,  c,_  -»-i^  17 


P70N  ACCESSION 
L1BRABY 

I*  PREFACE 

Children  like  stories  of  action  and  adventure. 
Their  tastes  should  be  consulted  in  placing  be- 
fore them  lessons  in  history.  Heretofore  this 
study  has  been  too  often  presented  to  them  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  make  it  dry  and  uninterest- 
ing". Whenever  it  has  been  made  interesting, 
they  have  enjoyed  it ;  and  some  parts  of  history 
have  always  a  charm  for  boys  and  girls. 

The  true  pedagogical  method  of  presenting 
history  to  young  people  is  to  give  them  at  first 
those  portions  in  which  they  naturally  take  the 
deepest  interest.  Still  further  ;  deeds,  deeds  of 
men,  things  done,  personal  anecdotes  and  inci- 
dents— these  always  claim  a  large  share  of  their 
attention.  Biography  is  the  backbone  of  his- 
tory. 

This  series  of  books, — "  America's  Great  Men 
and  their  Deeds," — including  "  Inventions," 
"  Heroes,"  "  Pioneers,"  has  been  prepared  on 
this  plan  and  is  designed  for  supplementary 
readers  for  the  sixth,  fifth,  and  fourth  grades. 
It  is  recommended  that  this  book  be  used  first, 
then  "  Heroes"  and  "  Inventions." 


6  PREFACE 

Acknowledgment  is  made  to  the  following 
authors  and  publishers  for  the  permission,  which 
they  have  very  kindly  granted,  to  use  copy- 
righted illustrations  : 

The  Marietta  Mound,  from  Builders  and  Later  Indians,  by 
Gerard  Fowke.  The  Ohio  State  Archaeological  and  Historical 
Society. 

Sarah  Bush  Lincoln,  Costume  worn  by  a  Matron  of  Illinois 
in  the  Days  of  Lincoln  s  Youth,  Lincoln  s  Surveying  Instru- 
ments, Lincoln  in  1857,  from  Tarbell's  Life  of  Lincoln.  Mc- 
Clure,  Phillips  &  Co. 

Mary  Lyon  ;  Moitnt  Holyoke  Female  Seminary,  1886  ;  The 
Talcott  Arboretum,  from  Views  of  Mount  Holyoke  College.  Asa 
Stephen  Kinney,  M.S. 

Dr.  Hoive  Teaching  Laura  Bridgman,  from  Laura  Bridgman, 
by  Maude  Howe  and  Florence  Howe  Hall.  Little,  Brown  & 
Company. 

Laura  Bridgman  Teaching  a  Fellow-Pupil  to  Read,  from 
Life  of  Laura  Bridgman,  by  Mary  Swift  Lamson.  Dorothea 
Lynde  Dix,  from  Life  of  Dorothea  Lynde  Dix,  by  Francis 
Tiffanv.'  Houghton,  Mifflin  and  Company. 


CONTENTS 

PART    I 
PIONEERS   OF   CIVILIZATION 

The  First  Migration — Across  the  Atlantic 

AFTER  PAGE 

I.   Pedro  Menendez  and  the  Early  Days  of  Florida     .     13 
II.  Samuel  Champlain,  the  Founder  of  New  France    .     21 

III.  John  Smith,  the  Pioneer  of  Virginia         .         .         -34 

IV.  William   Blackstone,    the   First  Settler  in   Boston 

and  Rhode  Island 47 

V.   Peter  Stuyvesant  and  the  Dutch  in  New  York         .     58 
VI.  William  Penn  and  the  Quakers  in  Pennsylvania     .     68 

t 
The  Second  Migration— Over  the  Alleghanies 

VII.  Father  Marquette,  the  Jesuit  Missionary          .         .     81 

VIII.  Iberville,  the  Founder  of  Louisiana          .         .         .94 

IX.  Daniel  Boone,  the  Pioneer  of  Kentucky  .         .         .    103 

X.  Simon  Kenton  and  the  Indian  Raids       .         .         .117 

XI.  George  Rogers  Clark,  the  Hero  of  the  Northwest 

Territory   ........   127 

XII.   Rufus  Putnam,  the  "Father  of  Ohio"     .         .         .138 

XIII.  William  Clark  and  Early  Life  in  Missouri       .         .150 

XIV.  David  Crockett,  the  Tennessee  Patriot    .         .     ,    .   163 
XV.  Samuel  Houston  and  Pioneer  Days  in  Texas  .         .   173 


CONTENTS 

The  Third  Migration— Across  the  Rocky 
Mountains 

UAPTER  PAGE 

XVI.  Captain  John  A.  Sutter  and  the  Discovery  of  Gold   187 
XVII.  Amos  L.    Lovejoy  and   the  Early  Settlements  in 

Oregon 196 

XVIII.  Peter  H.  Burnett,  the  First  Governor  of  California  205 


PART  II 
PIONEERS    OF    REFORM 

Government 

XIX.   Thomas  Jefferson,  the  Author  of  the  Declaration  of 

Independence    217 

XX.  James  Madison,  the  Father  of  the  Constitution        .  230 

XXI.  Abraham  Lincoln  and  the  Emancipation  Proclama- 
tion   .........  239 

Education 

XXII.  John  Harvard  and  Harvard  College         .         .         .256 

XXIII.  Horace  Mann  and  the  Public  Schools      .         .         .  266 

XXIV.  Mary  Lyon  and  the  Higher  Education  of  Women  .  279 
XXV.   Samuel  G.  Howe,  the  Friend  of  the  Blind  and  Deaf  292 

XXVI.  General  Samuel  C.  Armstrong  and  the  Education 

of  the  Colored  Races         .         .         .         .-  306 

Philanthropy 

XXVII.  John  Eliot,  the  "  Apostle  to  the  Indians"  .  .  318 

XXVIII.   Peter  Cartwright,  the  Itinerant  Preacher  .  .  326 

XXIX.  Dorothea  L,  Dix,  the  Friend  of  the  Insane  .  .  337 

XXX.  John  B.  Gough,  the  Temperance  Lecturer  .  .  347 


ILLUSTRATIONS   AND    MAPS 


The  Old  Spanish  Gate  at  St. 
Augustine 14 

St.  Mark's  Castle,  St.  Augus- 
tine   17 

French  Soldiers  Attacking  the 
Spanish  Fort 18 

A  Spanish  Ship  on  the  Florida 
Coast  20 

Jacques  Cartier 22 

Wigwam  in  the  Canadian  For- 
est in  1840 24 

Samuel  de  Champlain 26 

Champlain's  Attack  on  the 
Iroquois  Fort 29 

Working  a  Canoe  up  a  Rapid 
of  the  St.  Lawrence 31 

Chesapeake  Bay  (Map) 34 

The  Landing  of  the  Settlers 
at  Jamestown 35 

Building  Tents  and  Booths  at 
Jamestown 36 

Captain  John  Smith 37 

Smith's  Combat  with  Grualgo     39 

Captain  Smith  Rescued  by 
Pocahontas 43 

Ruins  of  'the  Tower  of  the 
Church  Built  at  Jamestown 
by  the  Early  Settlers 45 

John  Smith's  Pistol 46 

The  Settlers  Choosing  a  Site 
on  the  Charles  River 48 

Shipping  Wharves  at  Boston 
To-day 50 


Statue  of  Blackstone  ........     51 

Governor  Winthrop  .........     52 

The  First  Settlements  of  Mas- 
sachusetts and  Rhode  Island 


54 
Monument  to  Roger  Williams 

at  Providence,  R.I  .......      55 

On  the  Road  to  Boston  ......     57 

The  Palisades  of  the  Hudson 

River   opposite    Manhattan 

Island  ...................     59 

Peter  Stuyvesant  (Portrait 

and  AutograpJi)  ..........      60 

The  East  River  Gate  and 

Blockhouses  of  the  Stockade  Ci 
Stuyvesant's  "  Bouwerie  " 

House  ...................     63 

Stuyvesant  Destroys  the  De- 

mand for  Surrender  .......     65 

Stuyvesant's  Epitaph  ........     67 

William  Perm  (Portrait  and 

AutograpK)  ..............     68 

The  Middle  Colonies  ^Map).  .     70 
King  Charles  II  ____  ........     72 

The  Second  Home  of  William 

Penn  in  Philadelphia  .....  74 
Penn  Treating  with  the  In- 

dians ....................     76 

Indian  Receipt  ......  .......     79 

Indian  Belt  of  Beads  ........     82 

Fort  and  Town  of  Mackinac..  85 
Indians  Gathering  Wild  Rice  87 
Indian  Peace-Pipe  ..........  88 


10 


ILLUSTRATIONS  AND    MAPS 


Indian    Method    of    Broiling 

Fish 90 

Marquette's  Grave 93 

Robert  Cavelier  de  La  Salle . .  95 
The  French  Fleet  on  the  Lou- 
isiana Coast 96 

King  Louis  XIV 98 

Territory      Settled      by      the 

French  {Map} 100 

Bienville,  Governor  of  Loui- 
siana   102 

Daniel    Boone   {Portrait  and 

A  utograpJi) 103 

Fording  the   Potomac   on  the 

Way  to  the  Northwest. ...  104 
A  Settler's  Hut  in  the  Shenan- 

doah  Valley 105 

Pioneers  Accosted  by  Indians  107 

Fort  at  Boonesborough 112 

Floating  down  the  Ohio 114 

Simon  Kenton 118 

Lord  Dunmore 119 

Indians    Gloating    over    their 

Prisoners 122 

Indians  in  Council 124 

Indian  Weapons 126 

George  Rogers  Clark 128 

Boone's     Trail     and     Clark's 

Campaign  {Map) 129 

Captain  Helm  Surrendering 
Fort  Vincennes  to  the  Eng- 
lish    133 

The  Sergeant  and  the  Drum- 
mer Boy 136 

Rufus  Putnam 139 

George  Washington 140 

The  Marietta  Mound 144 

Fort  Washington,  the  Begin- 
ning of  Cincinnati 146 


PAGE 

Midnight  Escape  to  the  Fort  147 
The  Ohio  River  about  1850. .  148 
William  Clark  {Portrait  and 

A  utograph) 150 

Meri wether  Lewis  {Portrait 

and  Autograph} 151 

Lewis  in  the  Costume  of  a 

Western  Scout 153 

Map  Showing  Growth  of  the 

United    States  west  of  the 

Mississippi 155 

The  City  of  Washington  in 

1825 158 

A  Missouri  Village  in  1840. . .  160 
St.  Louis  about  the  Time  of 

Clark's  Death 162 

David  Crockett 163 

Daniel  Webster  Speaking  in 

the  Senate 167 

Room  in  the  Capitol  at  Wash- 
ington Used  by  the  House 

of      Representatives      until 

1859 169 

The  Alamo 171 

Railroad  Travel  in  Crockett's 

Day 172 

Sam  Houston  {Portrait  and 

Autograph} 174 

Andrew  Jackson 178 

Antonio  Lopez  de  Santa  Anna  181 

Texan  Cowboys 182 

Lone  Star  Flag  of  the  Texas 

Republic. 183 

The  Present  Capitol  of  Texas  185 

Captain  John  A.  Sutter 188 

Examining  Sand  with  a  Gold 

Pan 189 

Hydraulic  Mining  for  Gold 

at  the  Present  Day 191 


ILLUSTRATIONS   AND    MAPS 


I  l 


Native  Californians  Lassoing 
a  Wild  Bear 193 

The  Pick  Mattock  of  the  Miner  195 

On  the  Columbia  River,  Ore- 
gon :  Indians  Spearing 
Salmon  as  they  come  over 
the  Falls 197 

"  Westward  Ho  !  ". , 200 

In  the  Famous  Assay  Office, 
Seattle,  Washington 203 

Dr.  Whitman's  HomeatWraii- 
latpu,  Washington 207 

A  Caravan  on  Its  Way  to 
California 209 

The  Donner  Party  Crossing  the 
Sierra  Mountains  in  1846.  .  212 

A  Settlement  at  the  Foot  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains 213 

Flag  of  the  California  Repub- 
lic. . 215 

Thomas  Jefferson 217 

The  College  of  William  and 
Mary  as  It  Appears  To-day  219 

Williamsburg  in  Colonial 
Days  (Map} 220 

Monticello,  Jefferson's   Home  222 

Jefferson  Reading  to  the 
Committee  the  First  Draft 
of  the  Declaration 225 

The    Autograph  of  Jefferson  227 

The  University  of  Virginia  at 
the  Time  of  Jefferson's 
Death 228 

James  Madison 230 

Independence  Hall,  Philadel- 
phia   232 

Chair  and  Table  Used  by 
Washington  as  President  of 
the  Federal  Convention. . . .  234 


Madison's    Home    at    Mont- 

pellier 236 

The  Autograph  of  Madison.  .   237 
The  Great  Seal  of  the  United 
States,  Adopted  in  1782...   238 

Abraham  Lincoln. 240 

Sarah  Bush  Lincoln 243 

Costume  Actually  Worn  by  a 
Matron    of    Illinois    in    the 
Days  of  Lincoln's  Youth. . .    245 
Lincoln's    Surveying    Instru- 
ments     247 

Lincoln  in  1857 248 

The  Autograph  of  Lincoln. .  .    250 
The      National      Capitol     at 

Washington 252 

Statue  of  Lincoln  in   Lincoln 

Park,  Chicago 254 

Interior      of      the     Grammar 

School,  Stratford -on -A  von  258 
Harvard  College  in  1720.  .  .  .  259 
The  College  Yard  at  Harvard 

To-day 262 

Monument  to  John    Harvard 

at  Charlestown,  Mass 264 

The    Royal    Arms  of    Massa- 
chusetts      265 

Horace  Mann 267 

A  Schoolroom  When    Horace 

Mann  Was  a  Boy 269 

Title  Page  of  a  Copy  of  the 

"  New  England  Primer". .    273 
Statue    of   Horace    Mann    in 
Front  of  the  State  House  at 

Boston 275 

Horace    Mann    School,    New 

York  City 277 

Mending  the  Quill  Pen 278 

An  Old-Fashioned  Loom.  .    .    280 


12 


ILLUSTRATIONS   AND    MAPS 


As  Ladies  and  Gentlemen 
Looked  When  Mary  Lyon 
Was  a  Girl. 282 

Mary  Lyon 284 

A  New  England  Kitchen. .  . .   286 

Mount  Holyoke  Female  Sem- 
inary    289 

The  Talcott  Arboretum, 
Mount  Holyoke  College.  . .  290 

Samuel  G.  Howe 293 

Dr.  Howe  Teaching  Laura 
Bridgman 296 

Laura  Bridgman  Teaching  a 
Fellow  Pupil  to  Read  ....  300 

The  Congressional  Library  at 
Washington 302 

Samuel  Armstrong . .   307 

A  Cooking  Class  at  Hampton 
Institute 309 

The  Barn  at  Hampton  Insti- 
tute   312 

Booker  T.  Washington 315 


Chapel  of    Tuskegee  Normal 

and  Industrial  College 316 

John  Eliot  Preaching  to  the 

Indians 319 

A  Page  of  Eliot's  "  Indian 

Primer  " 32 1 

Indian  Title  Page  of  the  Eliot 

Bible  of  1663 324 

Peter  Cartwright 327 

A  Camp-Meeting  Ground  of 

the  WTest 332 

Fort  Dearborn,  the  Beginning 

of  Chicago,  Illinois,  in  1810  336 

Dorothea  Lynde  Dix 338 

Visiting  a  Prison 340 

Caring  for  the  Wounded  on 

the  Battlefield 344 

The  Old  Jail  in  New  York  City  346 

John  B.  Gough 348 

Audience  Cheering  John 

Gough    in     Exeter      Hall, 

London 350 


1    MENENDEZ  15 

'1  not  all  think  alike  on 

religion,  any   more 

^he  French 

PART  I  ^ 

PIONEERS    OF   CIVILIZATION 

The  First  Migration— Across  the  Atlantic 

CHAPTER    I 

PEDRO    MENENDEZ 
1519-1574 

A  PIONEER  is  "one  who  goes  before,  as 
into  the  wilderness,  preparing  the  way 
for  others  to  follow."  The  wilderness  may  be 
a  forest  or  a  plain  never  before  disturbed  by  the 
foot  of  man,  or  it  may  be  a  vast  domain  of 
knowledge  which  has  lain  for  centuries  un- 
heard of  and  unknown.  In  either  case  some 
one  who  is  brave  enough  and  strong  enough  to 
overcome  the  obstacles  in  the  way  must  take 
the  lead.  The  word  piotieer  has  grown  out  of 
an  old  French  word  me&mng  foot-soldier. 

We  are  to  study  about  American  Pioneers, 
and  shall  begin  with  the  pioneers  of  civilization, 
those  people  who  first  came  from  England  and 


12  ILLUSTRATIONS 


As    Ladies     and     Gentlemen™  ""  *eS    and    Settled  along  the 

Looked  When  Mary  LV^I\  orth  America.      Afterwards 

MarySja^  ir-  crossed  the  Alleghany  Mountains  and 

'made  settlements  in  the  great  valley  of  the  Mis- 

sissippi ;    and   later  still  other  pioneers  pushed 

across    the    Rocky   Mountains    and    established 


THE   OLD    SPANISH    GATE    AT    ST.    AUGUSTINE 

themselves  along  the  Pacific  coast,  in  California 
and  the  Oregon  country. 

Some  of  the  first  settlements  in  our  country 
by  the  people  of  Europe  were  soon  given  up. 
There  was  little  enough  in  the  new  land  of 
America  to  make  these  early  pioneers  con- 
tented. It  was  a  struggle  just  to  keep  aiive. 
The  first  settlement  made  and  not  given  up  was 
at  the  place  since  known  as  St.  Augustine,  in 
Florida  This  was  in  the  year  1565.  In  those 


PEDRO    MENENDEZ  jcj 

far-away  days  people  did  not  all  think  alike  on 
matters  of  government  and  religion,  any  more 
than  they  do  at  the  present  time.  The  French 
people  were  jealous  of  the  Spanish,  the  Spanish 
of  the  French ;  and  both  were  jealous  of  the 
English.  The  constant  enmity  between  the 
Protestants  and  the  Roman  Catholics  resulted 
in  oppressive  laws  and  cruel  persecutions.  Long 
before  the  English  settled  upon  the  coast  of 
North  America  some  French  Huguenots,  sent 
out  by  the  famous  Gaspard  de  Coligny  (co- 
len'ye),  of  France,  tried  to  make  a  home  for 
themselves  at  Port  Royal,  within  the  boundaries 
of  what  is  now  South  Carolina.  The  place  was 
soon  abandoned,  but  two  years  later  (1564) 
another  settlement,  also  under  the  patronage  of 
Coligny,  was  started  on  the  St.  John's  River,  in 
the  present  state  of  Florida  and  called  Fort 
Caroline.  These  colonists  were  Frenchmen  and 
Protestants.  The  very  next  year  a  colony  was 
sent  over  from  Spain  under  Catholic  leadership. 
It  was  commanded  by  Pedro  Menendez  de 
Aviles  (ma-nen'-deth  da  a-ve'-les). 

Let  us  see  how  and  why  this  new  enterprise 
came  to  be  undertaken.  Previous  to  1565 
Menendez  had  received  permission  from  the 
King  of  Spain  to  make  an  expedition  to  the 
New  World.  He  was  a  cruel  soldier  and  ad- 


l6  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

venturer,  but  he  feigned  eagerness  to  convert 
the  Indians  in  the  territory  of  Florida  to  the 
Catholic  faith.  While  he  was  busy  getting  men 
together  and  fitting  out  his  ships,  news  arrived 
in  Spain  that  French  Huguenots  had  made  a 
settlement  on  the  American  coast. 

Menendez's  desire  to  go  on  his  expedition 
was  then  increased  tenfold.  Had  not  the  Pope 
given  all  Florida  to  the  King  of  Spain?  No 
other  nation  had  a  right  to  settle  there,  and  of 
all  peoples  the  French  Huguenots  had  the  least 
right.  Menendez  would  quickly  wipe  out  the 
little  Protestant  settlement  and  found  a  new 
colony  subject  to  the  Spanish  king.  He  laid 
extensive  plans,  and  the  king  gave  him  all 
needed  help,  It  was  not  difficult  to  get  volun- 
teers. Soldiers  and  adventurers  flocked  to  the 
port;  and  finally,  in  the  year  1565,  Menendez 
set  sail  with  fifteen  hundred  men  and  nineteen 
vessels.  This  was  one  of  the  largest  companies 
that  ever  came  to  this  country. 

After  much  trouble  and  many  delays  Menen- 
dez reached  the  coast  of  America  and  found  the 
French  fleet  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  now  called 
the  St.  John's. 

"  Whence  does  this  fleet  come  ?"  he  asked. 

"  From  France,"  was  the  reply. 

"  Are  you  Catholics  or  Lutherans  ?" 


PEDRO   MENENDEZ  IJ 

"  We  are  Lutherans  of  the  new  religion.  Who 
are  you  ?  "  inquired  the  French  in  their  turn. 

"  I  am  Pedro  Menendez,  General  of  the  fleet 
of  the  King  of  Spain,  Don  Philip  the  Sec- 
ond." 

Then  he  told  them  that  his  orders  were  to 
hang  and  behead  all  Lutherans  and  that  he 
should  obey  his  instructions.  The  battle  began  ; 
but  the  French  fleet  got  away,  and  its  destruc- 
tion was  for  a  time  postponed. 

Menendez,  with  his  large  company,  sailed 
south  thirty  or  forty  miles  and  found  a  beautiful 
plain  bordering  on  a  small  bay,  about  two  miles 
from  the  main  coast.  Here  he  landed  his  men 
and  began  to  build  a  town.  He  named  it  St. 
Augustine. 

Meanwhile,  he  by  no  means  forgot  his  foes, 
the  Huguenots.      He  reorganized  his  army  and 
marched    five    hundred    men    overland,    across 
swamps  and  through 
forests,    to     the     St. 
John's  River.     Some- 
times they  floundered 
waist     deep     in     the 
mud ;  sometimes  they 
hacked      their      way 
through         palmetto 

thickets.     When  they       ST.  MARK'S  CASTLE,  ST.  AUGUSTINE 


i8 


AMERICAN    PIONEERS 


stopped  to  rest  at  night,  "  their  bed  was  the 
spongy  soil,  and  their  tent  the  overhanging 
clouds." 

Early  one  morning  the  Spaniards  attacked 
the  French  in  Fort  Caroline.  Menendez  gave 
no  quarter.  "  One  hundred  and  forty-two  per- 


FRENCH    SOLDIERS    ATTACKING    THE    SPAM! 


sons  were  slain  in  and  around  the  fort,  and  their 
bodies  lay  heaped  together  on  the  bank  of  the 
river."  The  Spaniards  pursued  the  fugitives 
who  escaped,  and  all  but  the  women  and  chil- 
dren were  put  to  the  sword.  The  colony  was 
utterly  destroyed,  and  no  other  attempt  was 
made  by  the  French  to  colonize  on  that  coast. 


PEDRO    MENENDEZ  ig 

Spain  was  now  supreme  in  her  province  of 
Florida. 

When  the  Spaniards  first  went  to  Florida,  the 
Indians  were  friendly  ;  but  as  time  passed,  the 
new  comers  treated  the  natives  so  badly  that 
their  friendship  changed  to  savage  hate.  After 
a  time,  when  the  cruelty  of  Menendez  became 
known  in  France,  one  Dominique  de  Gourgues 
(goorg),  who  had  been  ill-treated  by  the  Span- 
iards on  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  fitted  out  three 
vessels  and  sailed  for  Florida  to  chastise  the 
murderers  and  avenge  the  cruel  destruction  of  his 
fellow-countrymen.  The  Indians  in  great  num- 
bers flocked  to  his  aid,  and  again  the  glades  of 
northern  Florida  were  drenched  with  blood. 
Indian  warriors  and  French  soldiers  together 
meted  out  swift  destruction  to  the  Spaniards. 
The  colony  on  the  St.  John's,  which  the  Span- 
iards had  planted  on  the  ground  of  old  Fort 
Caroline,  was  wiped  out.  But  these  scenes  are 
too  terrible  to  dwell  upon.  Let  us  cover  the 
sad  picture  and  be  thankful  that  we  do  not  live 
in  times  of  such  cruel  and  barbarous  practices, 

Menendez's  settlement  at  St.  Augustine  con- 
tinued and  grew  into  a  prosperous  city.  It  is 
now  three  and  a  half  centuries  old,  and  has  the 
distinction  of  being  the  first  city  in  the  United 
States  founded  by  Europeans.  What  changes 


20 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


the  world,  especially  the  New  World,  has  seen 
during  this  time  !  Instead  of  engaging  in  wars, 
we  are  now  beginning  to  settle  disputes  by  arbi- 
tration. Roman  Catholics  and  Protestants  are 
living  side  by  side,  no  longer  enemies,  but 
friends.  Many  thousands  of  emigrants  are 
every  year  flocking  to  these  shores  from  all 
parts  of  the  world,  and  here  they  make  a  home 
for  themselves  and  their  children.  Ours  is  not 
only  a  land  of  plenty,  but  a  land  of  good-will. 


A    SPANISH    SHIP    ON    THE    FLORIDA    COAST 


CHAPTER    II 

SAMUEL   DE   CHAMPLAIN 
1567-1635 

bright  day  over  three  hundred  and  fifty 
years  ago  a  company  of  white  men  and 
Indians  stood  on  the  summit  of  the  mountain 
that  overlooks  the  city  of  Montreal.  Did  they 
see  a  beautiful  city  with  well-laid  streets,  fine 
buildings,  lofty  churches,  and  busy  factories 
spread  out  below  their  feet  ?  Did  they  see  be- 
yond the  city  a  broad  river  on  which  ships,  large 
and  small,  were  hastening  to  and  fro  ?  Did  they 
see  in  the  distance  villages,  farmhouses,  and  cul- 
tivated fields  ?  A  city,  if  it  could  be  called  a 
city,  was  there,  and  the  river  was  there ;  but  the 
churches,  the  factories,  the  wharves,  the  ships, 
the  green  fields  were  not.  They  looked  down 
on  the  top  of  a  great  forest  which  spread  itself 
out  over  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  miles.  Al- 
most without  a  break  it  stretched  southward  to 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  eastward  to  the  Atlantic, 
northward  to  the  frozen  lands  of  the  Polar  sea, 
and  westward  to  the  plains  of  the  Mississippi. 


22 


AMERICAN    PIONEERS 


The  white  men  in  this  little  band  of  observers 
were  Frenchmen — the  first  white  people  to  come 
up  the  great  river  of  Canada.  They  had  been 
sent  out  to  build  a  new  France  in  the  coun- 
try of  which  such  wonderful  stories  had  been 

told  by  the  Spaniards  who 
had  discovered  it.  Their 
leader  was  Jacques  Car- 
tier  (kar-tya'),  a  bold 
sailor,  who  was  not  afraid 
of  the  dangers  of  the  seas 
or  the  mysteries  of  the 
forests.  Their  attendants 
were  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Indian  village  of 
Hochelaga  (ho-sheTa-ga). 
This  strange  town  was 
then  the  most  populous 
settlement  on  the  river  ; 
and  to-day  its  successor,  Montreal,  is  still  the 
largest  city  on  the  St.  Lawrence,  as  that  same 
river  now  is  called. 

In  his  journey  up  the  river,  Cartier  had  been 
welcomed  at  all  the  villages  on  its  banks.  One 
Indian  after  another  had  said,  "  No,  this  is  not 
the  largest  village.  There  is  a  greater  one  be- 
yond." When  Cartier  said  that  he  was  going 
to  see  it  for  himself,  his  new  friends  tried  to  hold 


JACQUES    CARTIER 
From  the  painting  by  Th.  Hamel, 
after  the  original  preserved  at 
St.  Malo 


SAMUEL   DE    CHAMPLAIN  23 

him  back.  "  They  are  our  enemies,"  they  said. 
"They  are  very  powerful.  They  will  destroy 
you." 

But  the  truth  was,  the  Indians  did  not  want 
to  share  with  the  inhabitants  of  Hochelaga  the 
wonderful  sharp  knives  and  hatchets  which  Car- 
tier  had  brought  with  him.  They  had  soon 
learned  that  steel  hatchets  were  much  superior 
to  stone  hatchets,  and  perhaps  they  had  already 
dreamed  of  a  victory  that  they  might  win  over 
their  old  enemies. 

As  Cartier  could  not  be  frightened  by  stories 
of  hostile  tribes,  the  Indians  tried  another  plan. 
One  morning  a  canoe  came  out  to  the  ships.  In 
it  were  three  Indians  disguised  as  devils.  They 
were  dressed  in  black-and-white  dog  skins. 
Their  faces  were  painted  with  soot.  On  their 
heads  were  horns  three  feet  long  As  the  canoe 
floated  by,  the  leader  chanted  a  long  address. 
"  Coudouaguy  (coo-doo-a'-gl)  will  destroy  you," 
he  said.  "  He  will  send  tempests  and  snows 
and  drifting  ice,  and  you  will  be  destroyed  and 
your  ships." 

The  Indians  frightened  themselves  so  well 
that  they  fainted  when  they  reached  the  shore, 
but  Indian  devils  could  not  terrify  Jacques  Car- 
tier.  He  called  out  to  the  Indians  on  the  bank 
that  their  god  was  a  good-for-nothing  and  could 


AMERICAN    PIONEERS 


not  harm  those  who  believed  in  Christ.  Then, 
as  soon  as  he  could  get  ready,  he  weighed 
anchor  and  sailed  away. 

Cartier  received  any  but  a  hostile  welcome  at 
Hochelaga.     The   Indians  had  never  seen  white 


WIGWAM    IN    THE    CANADIAN    FOREST    IN    1840 

men  before,  nor  boats  with  wings.  "  Surely," 
they  thought,  "  these  men  with  bright  faces 
must  be  gods."  They  hastened  to  honor  them 
with  every  attention  that  Indian  courtesy  could 
devise.  When  Cartier  and  his  men,  dressed  in 
their  best,  landed  from  their  boats,  they  were  met 
by  a  band  of  warriors  and  escorted  to  the  village. 
There,  they  were  seated  in  the  center  of  the 


SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN  2$ 

great  public  square,  while  the  Indians  squatted 
around  them  row  behind  row,  "  just  as  if,"  Car- 
tier  wrote  in  his  journal,  "we  were  going  to  act 
a  play."  Then  a  strange  procession  came  from 
the  wigwams.  Several  strong  warriors  brought 
in  their  arms  their  helpless  old  chief.  Others 
carried  sick  men,  sick  women,  sick  children. 
Some  led  blind  men,  some  supported  lame  men. 
All  were  laid  at  the  white  man's  feet.  What  did 
they  expect  ?  They  thought  that  he  would  heal 
them. 

Cartier  was  troubled.  He  was  only  a  bluff 
sailor  ;  he  was  not  even  a  physician.  Surely  he 
was  no  god.  However,  he  did  the  best  he  could 
to  relieve  their  sufferings  and  then  knelt  and 
offered  a  prayer  and  made  the  sign  of  the  cross 
over  them.  Afterwards  he  distributed  the  pres- 
ents that  had  been  brought  up  from  the  ship ; 
to  every  man  and  to  every  woman  and  child  he 
gave  a  knife  or  a  hatchet,  beads  or  a  ring. 

The  visit  over,  Cartier  went  back  to  his  ship, 
sailed  down  the  river,  and  built  a  fort  where  he 
and  his  men  spent  the  winter.  In  the  spring  he 
returned  to  France ;  and  Canada,  except  for 
occasional  visits  from  hunters  and  adventurers, 
was  left  to  its  Indian  inhabitants  for  eighty  years. 

Then  again  a  strange  ship  came  sailing  up  the 
St.  Lawrence.  It  was  commanded  by  Samuel 


26 


AMERICAN    PIONEERS 


de  Champlain,  a  French  soldier,  who  had  already 
made  three  trips  to  the  New  World.  He  hoped 
that  now  at  last  a  permanent  settlement  could 
be  made  in  the  wilderness,  where  men  could 

bring  their  wives 
and  children  and 
build  homes  and 
plant  gardens.  It 
would  be  hard  work, 
he  knew ;  but  he 
was  not  afraid  of 
hard  work.  They 
would  have  trouble, 
perhaps  famine  and 
suffering  ;  but  he 
was  not  the  kind 
discouraged  by  dangers  and 


SAMUEL    DE   CHAMPLAIN1 

From  the  painting  by  Th.  Hamel,  after  the 

Moncornet  portrait 


be 


of    man    to 
hardships. 

The  party  landed  at  a  spot  where  the  St. 
Lawrence  River  narrows  and  the  bluffs  rise  high 
on  either  side.  Soon  the  echoes  were  giving 
back  the  ring  of  axes  and  the  crash  of  falling 
trees.  And-  it  was  not  long  before  the  men  had 
built  three  houses  for  dwellings,  a  larger  one  for 
a  store-house,  a  tower  for  doves,  and  platforms 
for  cannon,  and  enclosed  all  by  a  strong,  wooden 
wall,  which  they  surrounded  by  a  deep  trench 
filled  with  water.  Champlain  called  his  fort  Que- 


SAMUEL   DE    CHAMPLAIN  27 

bee.  The  name  he  borrowed  from  the  Indian 
language.  It  means  a  narrowing. 

In  the  fall  the  ship  went  back  to  France,  and 
Champlain  and  twenty-eight  men  were  left  to 
spend  the  winter  in  the  wilderness.  The  days 
grew  short  and  shorter.  The  wind  blew  cold 
from  the  north.  Snow  and  ice  drove  the  pioneers 
into  the  fort,  where  they  huddled  around  their 
fires.  No  winter  such  as  this  had  they  ever 
known  in  sunny  France.  Would  it  ever  end  ? 
Until  the  latter  part  of  the  winter  they  kept  their 
health.  Then  one  fell  sick,  and  then  another 
and  another.  Then  one  died.  After  that  the 
men  carried  their  comrades  one  by  one  out  of 
the  fort  and  laid  them  away,  until  in  the  spring 
only  eight  were  left. 

As  the  lonely  days  went  by,  how  anxiously, 
the  first  thing  in  the  morning,  must  each  man 
have  looked  down  the  river  ;  and  how  constantly, 
as  he  was  busy  about  his  work,  must  he  have 
looked  up  to  see  if  a  sail  had  not  yet  appeared 
on  the  horizon.  At  last  a  ship  did  come,  and 
it  brought  colonists  and  fresh  provisions.  Their 
friends  in  France  had  not  forgotten  them. 

During  the  winter  Champlain  had  made  the 
acquaintance  of  some  Indians  and  had  promised 
that  in  the  spring  he  would  take  the  war-path 
with  them.  Their  enemies  lived  far  to  the  south 


28  AMERICAN    PIONEERS 

in  what  is  now  the  state  of  New  York,  and 
Champlain  was  anxious  to  explore  the  country. 
So  after  the  new  colonists  had  arrived  at  Quebec, 
he  went  off  up  the  river  with  the  Indians.  Cham- 
plain  soon  discovered  that  an  Indian's  word  could 
not  be  trusted.  He  had  been  told  that  the  whole 
journey  could  be  made  in  boats.  But  it  was  not 
many  days  before  he  heard  the  roar  of  falling 
water  and  saw  the  river  rushing  madly  before 
him.  The  Indians  landed,  picked  up  their  light 
canoes,  and  carried  them  on  their  shoulders  to 
the  quiet  water  above.  It  was  a  different  matter 
to  carry  through  the  forests  a  heavy  European 
boat.  Champlain  sent  back  his  boat  and  most 
of  his  men  to  Quebec,  and  he  and  four  others 
pushed  on  with  the  Indians. 

Day  after  day  they  paddled  over  rivers  and 
lakes  never  before  visited  by  white  men.  At 
night  they  lay  down  with  the  Indians  on  the 
shore  ;  and  in  the  morning,  after  telling  their 
dreams,  they  paddled  on  again.  The  Indians 
firmly  believed  that  the  day's  events  were  fore- 
told by  the  visions  of  the  night  before.  As  they 
expected  that  the  guns  of  the  Frenchmen  would 
win  them  victory,  they  were  especially  anxious 
to  know  what  kind  of  dreams  Champlain  had. 
Every  morning  they  asked  him  about  his  dreams 
and  were  greatly  disappointed  when  he  said  that 


SAMUEL  DE   CHAMPLAIN 


29 


he  had  not  dreamed  at  all.  Finally  one  morning 
he  told  them  that  in  a  dream  he  had  seen  three 
Iroquois  warriors  drowning  in  the  lake.  The 
Indians  were  jubilant,  and  immediately  began  to 
prepare  for  battle. 


After  the  original  in  Champlains  "  Nouvelle  France  " 

CHAMPLAIN'S  ATTACK  ON  THE  IROQUOIS  FORT 

The  chief  brought  out  a  bundle  of  sticks  and 
planted  them  in  the  ground  just  as  we  would 
arrange  a  company  of  toy  soldiers.  The  tall 
sticks  represented  the  chiefs,  and  the  short  sticks 


30  AMERICAN    PIONEERS 

were  the  warriors.  Without  any  words  of  ex- 
planation, the  Indians  carefully  examined  the 
sticks  and  then  arranged  themselves  in  the  same 
positions.  In  this  order  they  were  to  go  into 
battle. 

The  Indians  decided  that  Champlain  was  a 
good  dreamer,  for  in  a  few  clays  they  came  across 
the  enemy.  The  victory  was  an  easy  one,  for 
the  Iroquois  were  so  astonished  by  the  sound  of 
the  guns  and  so  terrified  because  the  balls  went 
so  easily  through  their  arrow-proof  armor  that 
they  soon  ran  away. 

A  year  or  two  after  this  expedition,  a  French 
adventurer  came  down  the  river  from  the  inte- 
rior. He  had  a  wonderful  story  to  tell.  He 
said  that  he  had  gone  so  far  up  the  river  that  he 
had  come  to  the  other  side  of  the  continent  and 
that  it  would  take  only  seventeen  days'  journey 
to  reach  salt  water,  Nearly  every  Spaniard, 
Frenchman,  and  Englishman  who  had  crossed 
the  Atlantic  had  sought  in  vain  to  find  an  open- 
ing through  to  the  Pacific.  Champlain  thought 
that  he  now  had  a  chance  to  have  his  name  hon- 
ored in  all  Europe  as  the  discoverer  of  this 
much  desired  passage.  Taking  the  adventurer 
along  with  him,  he  set  out  in  high  spirits. 

It  was  easy  paddling  up  the  St.  Lawrence  ; 
but  after  the  Ottawa  was  reached,  rapids  ap- 


SAMUEL   DE   CHAMPLAIN 


peared  ahead.  As  the  river  grew  narrower,  the 
rapids  became  more  frequent  and  the  difficulties 
greater.  Sometimes  the  woods  were  so  thick 
that  Champlain  could  not  get  his  boats  through 


WORKING    A    CANOE    UP    A    RAPID    OF    THE    ST.   LAWRENCE 

them  and  had  to  pull  the  canoes  up  the  current 
by  ropes  fastened  to  trees  on  the  bank.  Finally 
they  came  across  a  band  of  Indians  who  looked 
at  the  travelers  in  amazement.  How  could 
strangers  come  up  from  the  sea  by  a  course  over 
which  even  they  could  go  only  with  great  diffi- 
culty ?  "  These  white  men  must  have  fallen 
from  the  clouds,"  they  said  to  one  another. 


32  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

"  The  French  chief  can  do  everything.  All  that 
we  have  heard  of  him  must  be  true." 

When  the  Frenchmen  reached  the  settle- 
ments, they  were  received  with  honors,  for  re- 
ports of  Champlain's  kindness  and  fairness  had 
spread  even  to  that  far  country.  When  he 
asked  for  boats  and  guides  to  take  him  farther 
to  the  country  of  the  Nepissings,  his  hosts  re- 
plied that  the  tribes  were  hostile  and  the  rapids 
too  many. 

"  Nicholas  has  been  there,"  replied  Cham- 
plain  ;  "and  he  did  not  find  the  road  or  the 
people  so  bad  as  you  have  said." 

"Nicholas,"  demanded  the  chief,  "did  you 
say  that  you  had  been  to  the  Nepissings?" 

The  adventurer  was  silent ;  then  he  answered 
slowly,  "  Yes,  I  have  been  there." 

"  That  is  false,"  returned  the  chief.  "  You 
know  that  you  slept  here  among  my  children 
every  night  and  rose  again  every  morning.  If 
you  went  where  you  say  you  went,  it  must  have 
been  when  you  were  asleep." 

It  was  only  too  true.  Nicholas  had  not  seen 
the  great  sea,  but  had  spent  the  winter  with  the 
Indians  as  the  chief  had  said.  He  had  made  up 
the  whole  story,  hoping  that  he  would  get  hon- 
ors and  a  fortune  for  his  falsehood.  Champlain 
gave  up  his  quest  ;  but  another  year  he  repeated 


SAMUEL  DE   CHAMPLAIN  33 

this  journey,  went  farther  on,  and  discovered 
Lake  Huron  and  Lake  Ontario. 

When  he  returned  to  Quebec,  he  had  greater 
difficulties  to  overcome  than  any  he  had  found 
in  the  wilderness.  There  were  continual  quar- 
rels between  the  merchants  and  the  hunters, 
and  between  those  who  believed  in  one  kind  of 
religion  and  those  who  believed  in  another. 
Once  the  fort  was  captured  by  the  English,  and 
Champlain  was  carried  a  captive  to  London. 
After  peace  had  been  made,  he  sailed  for 
Quebec;  and  there,  on  Christmas  Day,  1635,  he 
died. 

Champlain  was  one  of  the  noblest  pioneers 
that  came  to  the  New  World  in  the  early  times. 
The  Indians  trusted  him  as  they  trusted  few 
white  men.  He  always  kept  his  word  with 
them  and  was  honorable  in  all  his  dealings.  He 
treated  them  like  men,  while  most  of  the  other 
colonists  considered  them  little  better  than 
beasts.  The  wisdom  of  his  course  was  well 
shown  in  the  after  years.  The  French  lived  at 
peace  with  their  Indian  neighbors,  while  the 
English  colonists  to  the  south  were  constantly 
listening  for  the  terrible  war-whoop  and  were 
never  safe  from  attack. 


CHAPTER    III 


.CHESAPEAKE  BAY 


JOHN    SMITH 
i 579- r 63T 

Spaniards    and    the    French  were  not 
the  only   European   peoples  who  wanted 
to  get  land  in   the   New  World.     England  also 

had  sent  out  expeditions 
for  exploration  and  settle- 
ment, but  had  not  been  at 
all  successful  in  getting 
colonists  to  remain  in 
the  forests  of  America. 
A  year  or  two  before 
Champlain  came  to  Can- 
ada, some  people  in  Eng- 
land made  a  determined 
effort  to  start  a  colony 
and  interested  about  a 
hundred  men  to  set  out 
for  the  unknown  world.  Some  went  because 
they  were  fond  of  adventure.  All  hoped  to 
obtain  a  fortune,  for  wonderful  stories  had  been 
told  of  the  abundance  of  gold  and  jewels  there. 


'apeCharles 
Pt.  Comfort 

Cape  Henry 


JOHN    SMITH 


35 


They  sailed  in  three  vessels,  and  in  the  early 
spring  reached  that  part  of  the  new  country 
known  as  Virginia.  They,  had  had  a  long, 
stormy  voyage  ;  and  the  land  with  its  bright 


From  the  painting  by  Chapman 

THE    LANDING    OF    THE    SETTLERS    AT   JAMESTOWN 

flowers  and  its  fresh,  green  leaves  seemed  most 
pleasant  to  them.  Therefore  they  named  the 
point  of  land  that  they  first  saw  Point  Comfort. 
For  three  weeks  they  explored  the  banks  of  a 
river,  which  they  called  the  James,  after  King 
James  I  of  England,  seeking  the  best  situation 
for  a  settlement.  At  last  they  decided  upon  a 
small  peninsula  which  was  about  as  bad  a  place 
as  they  could  have  chosen.  The  ground  was 


36  AMERICAN    PIONEERS 

low  and  marshy,  and,  when  the  tide  was  in,  a 
part  of  it  was  covered  with  water.  However,  it 
was  an  easy  place  to  defend  if  the  Indians 
should  be  troublesome  ;  and  the  settlers  did  not 
know  that  the  fogs  from  the  river  and  the  gases 


BUILDING   TENTS   AND    BOOTHS    AT   JAMESTOWN 

that  would  arise  from  the  damp  earth  under  the 
hot  summer  sun  would  prove  to  be  as  dangerous 
a  foe  as  the  Indians. 

In  a  short  time  the  tents  and  booths  of  James- 
town made  a  brave  showing  against  the  dark 
green  of  the  forest.  But  difficulties  arose  al- 
most at  once.  Most  of  the  settlers  were  of 
the  class  called  ''gentlemen."  They  had  never 
been  accustomed  to  work  in  England,  and  they 


JOHN   SMITH 


37 


did  not  know  how  to  work  in  America.  The 
president  of  the  colony  and  the  men  who  had 
been  chosen  for  councilors  were  selfish  and 
looked  out  for  their  own  interests  first.  The 
Indians  were  hos-  _ 
tile  ;  and,  worse 
than  all,  a  terrible 
disease  attacked 
the  colony  from 
which  about  half 
their  number  died. 
In  their  great 
need,  the  settlers 
turned  to  one 
among  them  who, 
because  of  the 
jealousy  of  the 
president  and  his 
friends,  had  been 

kept          IrOm          hlS 

rio-htful     nlare     in 

i  ig  11  Ll  u  l       pldCC 

the  government  of  l624 
the  colony.  John  Smith  seemed  the  only  man 
who  had  energy,  will,  and  wit  enough  to  keep 
the  colony  from  destruction.  He  was  a  true 
genius  ;  a  man  who  could  pull  himself  out 
of  any  difficulty,  no  matter  how  great,  who 
always  did  the  best  he  could  under  all  cir- 


CAPTAIN    JOHN    SMITH 
Copied  from  the  original  engraving  in  John 

Smitk'5  "  History  ^  New  England,  Vir- 

gittta,  and  the  Summer  Isles,"  published  in 


38  AMEKK3AN    PIONEERS 

cumstances  and  could  make  other  men  do  their 
best,  also. 

John  Smith  was  at  this  time  twenty-eight 
years  old,  but  he  had  already  had  many  wonder- 
ful adventures  and  had  seen  still  more  wonderful 
sights.  When  a  young  boy,  he  caused  his  par- 
ents and  guardians  a  great  deal  of  trouble'  be- 
cause he  was  so  determined  to  go  out  into  the 
world  to  seek  his  fortune.  Not  satisfied  with 
the  adventures  he  could  find  in  England,  at  the 
very  first  opportunity  he  set  out  for  the  conti- 
nent of  Europe. 

In  those  days  strange  things  that  could  not 
possibly  happen  at  the  present  time  were  com- 
mon occurrences.  One  of  Smith's  first  experi- 
ences ought  to  have  satisfied  even  his  love  for 
adventure.  He  set  sail  in  a  ship  bound  for 
Italy.  His  fellow-passengers  were  a  supersti- 
tious company  who  were  on  their  way  to  visit  the 
churches  and  shrines  of  Rome.  A  terrible  storm 
came  on,  and  they  decided  that  it  was  caused  by 
some  one  on  board  who  wished  them  harm. 
Smith  was  the  only  passenger  who  was  an  Eng- 
lishman, so  he  was  judged  the  culprit.  He  was 
thrown  overboard  and  left  to  drown  or  get  to 
land  in  the  best  way  he  could.  Fortunately 
Smith  was  a  good  swimmer,  and  he  reached  a 
little  uninhabited  island  where  he  was  picked  up 


JOHN   SMITH  39 

by  a  pirate  ship.  A  pirate's  trade  proved  too 
adventurous  even  for  Smith,  for  he  was  an 
honest  and  a  kindly  man.  He  left  the  ship  at 
the  first  port  reached  and  then  wandered  from 
place  to  place  in  southern  Europe.  Finally,  he 
went  to  fight  the  Turks.  Once  he  was  sold 


HisCombat  witkGRVALGO  Copt. of  Three  Hundred  Horsemen 

U 


J~ro»i  "  History  of  New  England,  Virginia,  and  the  Summer  Isles'' 

into  slavery,  but  he  escaped  after  a  time  and 
again  reached  England,  a  little  while  before  the 
colonists  set  out  for  Virginia.  He  joined  the 
company ;  but  during  the  voyage  he  was 
made  a  prisoner  on  the  charge  of  wishing 
to  ''usurp  the  government,  murder  the  coun- 
cil, and  make  himself  king."  He  was  soon 
acquitted  ;  and,  as  we  have  seen,  it  was  not 


40  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

long  before  the  colonists  had  need  to  make  him 
their  leader. 

As  soon  as  Smith  had  been  appointed  presi- 
dent, he  set  energetically  to  work  to  improve 
conditions  in  the  colony.  It  was  too  early  for 
the  crops  to  be  harvested.  The  supplies  that 
had  been  left  by  the  ships  had  not  been  carefully 
used.  The  settlers  were  already  starving.  Food 
must  be  provided,  and  Smith,  with  seven  men, 
went  down  the  river  to  an  Indian  village  to  buy 
corn. 

The  Indians  had  all  this  time  been  watching 
the  white  faces  at  Jamestown.  They  knew  how 
things  were  going  on  there,  about  as  well  as  the 
Englishmen  themselves  did.  They  knew  how 
the  crops  were  coming  on,  and  they  knew  how 
near  starvation  the  settlers  were.  They  had  not 
formed  a  very  high  opinion  of  the  strangers,  and 
they  were  not  at  all  anxious  to  share  the  land 
with  them.  So  they  would  not  be  tempted  by  the 
beads  and  trinkets  that  the  Englishmen  offered 
in  exchange  for  corn.  They  refused  to  sell. 

Smith  ordered  his  men  to  fire  their  muskets 
over' the  heads  of  the  Indians,  and  they  ran  off 
in  fright.  When  they  found  that  "  the  great 
thunder"  had  hurt  no  one,  they  returned  in  full 
force  to  attack  the  strangers.  With  them  they 
brought  an  image  of  their  god,  Okee.  Okee 


JOHN   SMITH  41 

was  a  terrible  creature,  and  the  Indians  were 
greatly  afraid  of  him.  He  had  a  shrine  on  the 
York  River,  and  the  Indians  never  paddled  by 
without  throwing  offerings  into  the  stream  and 
hurrying  away  as  fast  as  they  could.  Surely, 
they  thought,  Okee  will  destroy  the  white  faces. 
Instead,  Smith  captured  the  hideous  stuffed 
image,  and  then  the  Indians  with  great  rever- 
ence sold  to  him  all  the  corn  that  he  would  buy. 

The  cool,  clear  breezes  of  the  autumn  brought 
health  to  the  sick  colonists  and  a  better  state  of 
affairs  at  Jamestown.  But  meanwhile  Smith's 
enemies  became  more  active.  They  accused  him 
of  not  carrying  out  the  suggestions  of  the  com- 
pany, which  had  sent  them  to  America  to  make 
a  careful  search  for  a  passage  through  the  land 
to  the  "  South  Seas."  So,  as  there  was  no  longer 
any  direct  need  for  Smith  to  stay  in  Jamestown, 
he  offered  to  lead  an  expedition  towards  the 
mountains.  He  never  found  the  South  Seas, 
but  he  learned  many  things  about  the  natives 
and  met  with  many  startling  adventures. 

Where  the  Chickahominy  River  grew  shallow, 
Smith  was  forced  to  leave  his  boat  and  to  pro- 
ceed in  a  canoe,  with  only  two  companions.  Be- 
fore long  he  landed  and  struck  off  into  the 
woods,  where  he  was  taken  captive  by  a  large 
band  of  Indians  under  a  chief  called  Opechanca- 


42  AMERICAN    IMONKKKS 

nough  (6-p£ch-an-ca'-no).  They  at  once  pre- 
pared to  put  him  to  death,  but  Smith's  wits  saved 
him  for  a  time.  A  law  had  been  made  at  James- 
town that  no  one  should  go  out  into  the  forest 
without  a  compass.  This  was  a  necessary  rule, 
for  there  were  no  roads  through  the  woods  and 
nothing  to  tell  direction  or  places.  Smith,  of 
course,  had  his  compass  with  him.  It  was  set 
in  an  ivory  frame  and  had  a  glass  on  both  sides. 
He  showed  it  to  the  chief  and  explained  how  he 
could  find  his  way  through  the  thickest  woods 
because  the  needle  always  pointed  to  the  north. 
The  Indian  was  impressed  more  by  what  he  saw 
than  by  what  he  heard.  There  in  a  box  was  a 
strange,  quivering  needle.  He  could  see  it 
plainly  enough.  He  could  put  his  finger  upon 
it,  but  he  could  not  touch  it.  Marvelous  ! 

Smith  then  told  him  something  about  the 
shape  of  the  earth  and  about  the  movements  of 
the  stars  in  the  heavens.  Probably  the  Indian 
understood  very  little  of  Smith's  talk,'  but  he 
got  the  idea  that  the  compass  ruled  the  universe 
and  that  Smith  ruled  the  compass.  Therefore 
the  captive  must  be  a  powerful  man  and  too 
important  to  be  put  to  death  in  the  woods. 
At  last  Opechancanough  decided  to  take  him 
to  the  great  chief  Powhatan  (pow-ha-tan'). 

Powhatan  was  for  a  long  time  undecided  what 


JOHN    SMITH 


43 


he  should  do  with  his  captive.  Smith  was  kept 
a  close  prisoner,  but  was  kindly  treated  and  well 
fed.  This  was  not  because  the  Indians  were 
friendly  to  him,  but  because  they  wished  him  to 
be  in  good  condition  to  endure  torture.  Many 


From  an  old  engraving 

CAPTAIN  SMITH  RESCUED  HV  POCAHONTAS 

long  discussions  took  place  in  the  Indian  coun- 
cil. At  last  it  was  decided  that  if  he  were  put 
out  of  the  way,  it  would  be  very  easy  to  get  rid 
of  the  other  pale  faces  down  the  river.  A  day 
was  appointed  for  the  execution,  and  great  prep- 
arations were  made  for  the  event. 

The  chief  sat  on  his  throne  with  his  warriors 


44  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

and  his  family  about  him.  Smith  was  bound 
and  laid  on  the  ground,  with  his  head  upon  two 
stones.  Two  Indians  with  uplifted  clubs  stood 
ready  to  pound  out  his  brains.  Powhatan  had 
already  begun  to  lift  his  hand  for  the  signal  to 
strike  when  there  was  a  rustle  in  the  group  of 
silent  women  who  sat  around  him.  A  young 
Indian  girl  ran  out  to  the  prisoner,  threw  her 
arms  about  his  neck,  placed  her  head  above 
his,  and  claimed  him  for  her  own.  So,  according 
to  Indian  custom,  Smith  was  saved  only  to  be- 
come the  slave  of  a  twelve-year-old  girl — to 
make  toys  and  trinkets  for  the  little  Poca- 
hontas.  But  after  two  days  Powhatan  sent  him 
back  to  Jamestown  with  a  message  to  his  people. 
It  was  winter  when  Captain  Smith  reached  the 
settlement,  and  there  he  found  everything  in 
commotion.  The  principal  men  had  seized  the 
boat  and  were  planning  to  return  to  Europe 
and  leave  the  rest  to  their  fate.  Smith  acted 
promptly.  He  compelled  the  deserters  to  re- 
main, but  they  were  still  too  powerful  to  allow 
him  to  assume  his  rightful  place  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  colony.  Conditions  went  from  bad 
to  worse,  and  again  the  people  nearly  starved. 
Finally  Smith  again  became  the  head  of  the 
colony.  He  told  the  men  that  they  could  no 
longer  depend  upon  the  Indians  for  their  food. 


JOHN   SMITH 


45 


They  must  plant  their  own  cornfields  and  every 
one  must  work.  "  You  must  obey,"  he  said; 
and  "he  that  will  not  work  shall  not  eat." 

Of  course  there  was  much  grumbling,  for 
many  of  the  colonists  had  never  done  work  of 
this  kind  before. 
Smith  was  able  to 
make  good  his 
promise,  however; 
and  the  fields  were 
planted,  and  the 
crops  were  har- 
vested. He  also 
set  the  men  to 
felling  trees  and 
building  a  fort  as  a 
protection  against 
the  Indians.  This 
exertion  blistered 
their  tender  hands 
and  called  forth 
more  grumbling.  The  ring  of  the  axes  was 
accompanied  by  the  sound  of  many  oaths.  So 
many  oaths  were  used  that  Smith  made  a  law 
that,  for  every  oath  a  man  uttered  through  the 
day,  he  should  have  a  bucket  of  water  poured 
down  his  sleeve  when  he  returned  to  the  settle- 
ment at  night. 


RUINS  OF  THE  TOWER  OF  THE  CHURCH 
BUILT  AT  JAMESTOWN  BY  THE  EARLY 
SETTLERS 


46  AMERICAN7    PIONEERS 

By  these  and  other  forceful  acts,  Smith  saved 
the  colony  from  destruction.  He  constantly  en- 
deavored to  live  not  for  himself,  but,  as  he  pro- 
claimed was  the  duty  of  every  man,  "each  to 
help  other."  One  of  the  Virginia  colonists  gave 
a  very  truthful  picture  of  the  character  of  John 
Smith,  when  he  called  him  a  man  that  "  never 
allowed  more  for  himself  than  his  soldiers  with 
him  ;  that  upon  no  danger  would  send  them 
where  he  would  not  lead  them  himself  ;  that 
would  never  see  us  want  what  he  either  had  or 
could  by  any  means  get  us ;  that  would  rather 
want  than  borrow,  or  starve  than  not  pay  ;  that 
loved  action  more  than  words,  and  hated  false- 
hood  and  controversies  worse  than  death  ;  whose 
adventures  were  our  lives  and  whose  loss  our 
deaths." 

The  good  men  admired  him,  but  the  selfish 
and  dishonorable  hated  him  because  he  was  so 
unlike  themselves.  His  enemies  sent  untrue  re- 
ports about  him  to  England,  and  he  was  com- 
manded to  return.  Later  he  made  other  voyages 
to  the  New  World,  but  he  never  went  back  to 
Virginia. 


Pistol. 


CHAPTER    IV 

WILLIAM    BLACKSTONE 
i6oo(?)-i675 

A  BOUT  twenty  years  after  John  Smith  left 
•*^  Jamestown,  fourteen  ships  sailed  one  after 
another  into  Massachusetts  Bay.  On  board  was 
a  large  company  of  Englishmen,  who,  with  their 
wives  and  children,  had  left  homes  and  friends 
in  their  native  land  to  find  new  homes  and  a 
new  country  in  the  forests  of  America.  Though 
many  of  these  colonists  settled  at  different 
points  along  the  New  England  coast,  the  gov- 
ernor, John  Winthrop,  and  most  of  the  princi- 
pal men  decided  to  remain  at  the  place  which  is 
now  known  as  Charlestown. 

The  company  had  had  a  long  voyage  of  about 
eighteen  weeks.  It  seemed  so  good  to  be  free 
from  the  cramped,  bad-smelling  cabins,  that  al- 
most any  spot  on  land  was  a  pleasant  place  to 
them.  They  soon  decided  upon  the  different 
sites  for  their  homes  and  quickly  raised  booths 
and  tents  for  shelter.  The  colonists  who  re- 
mained at  Charlestown  were  a  little  hasty  in 


48  AMERICAN    PIONEERS 

choosing  this  site  for  their  settlement.  There 
was  only  one  spring  of  water  anywhere  near,  and 
that  was  on  the  beach,  where  it  was  covered  by 
the  sea  when  the  tide  was  in.  The  spring  could 
not  supply  water  enough  for  all  their  needs,  and 
what  water  it  did  furnish  was  brackish. 


THE    SETTLERS    CHOOSING    A    SITE    ON    THE   CHARLES    RIVER 

Moreover,  many  of  the  colonists  had  never 
been  accustomed  to  any  privations,  and  grew 
weak  and  ill  during  their  long  journey.  In  the 
new  land,  the  strange  climate,  the  hard  work, 
the  poor  food,  and  the  bad  water  were  too  much 
for  them.  Men,  women  and  children  sickened 
and  died  ;  and  great  sadness  settled  down  upon 
the  company  who  had  been  so  happy  such  a  short 


WILLIAM   BLACKSTONE  49 

time  before.  One  day  a  stranger,  an  English- 
man, made  them  a  visit.  He  told  them  that  on 
the  peninsula  just  across  the  river  they  would 
find  an  abundance  of  pure  springs.  For  many 
years  he  had  lived  there  alone  ;  but  now  he  in- 
vited them  all  to  share  with  him  the  hills,  the 
meadows,  and  the  springs  of  Shawmut.  Thomas 
C.  Amory  has  told  the  story  in  the  following 
words  : 

"  Unused  to  hardships,  sorrowing 

For  friends  the  seas  divide, 
They  droop  and  sicken,  one  by  one, 
Even  their  physician  died. 

"  Their  barks  but  scanty  food  supplied, 

Untilled  as  yet  the  fields  ; 
And  soon  to  fevered  lips,  the  spring 
No  more  refreshment  yields. 

"  It  was  a  sorry  sight  to  see, 

To  make  one's  heart  to  bleed  ; 
How  could  a  Christian  man  unmoved 
Regard  such  urgent  need  ? 

"  His  springs  and  brooks  in  copious  streams 

With  crystal  waters  welled  ; 
He  gave  them  all  they  wished  and  more, — 
Naught  but  his  farm  withheld." 

/ 

Governor  Winthrop  gladly  accepted  the  invi- 
tation ;  and  the  settlers  moved  their  families, 
their  cattle,  and  even  their  houses,  across  the 

4 


50  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

bay.  In  this  way  began  the  settlement  of 
Shawmut,  or  Boston,  as  soon  afterwards  it  was 
called. 

Who    was   the    stranger  ?    and   what   was    he 
doing  alone  in  the  New  World  ?     His  name  was 


SHIPPING    WHARVES    AT    HUSTON    TO-DAY 

William  Blackstone.  He  was  a  graduate  of  an 
English  college  and  had  been  ordained  a  min- 
ister in  the  English  Church.  It  was  a  time 
when -English  people  were  growing  dissatisfied 
with  the  way  in  which  God  was  worshiped  in 
their  land.  Some  thought  that  one  method 
should  be  followed  and  others,  another  entirely 
different.  Few  were  willing  that  others  should 
worship  God  except  in  the  way  they  themselves 


Thomas  Bail 


STATUE   OF    BLACKSTONE 
.Modeled  for  the  Boston  Memorial  Society 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


thought  right.  Therefore,  there  were  many 
bitter  discussions,  much  hard  feeling,  great 
unhappiness  and  sorrow.  Some  people  were 
obliged  to  leave  England  to  escape  persecution. 
Others  left  because  all  such  disturbances  were 
distasteful  to  them.  Among  these  was  William 
Blackstone  ;  and  when  Winthrop  arrived  Black- 
stone  had  probably  been 
in  America  about  seven 
years. 

On  the  south  side  of 
the  highest  hill  at  Shaw- 
mut,  where  the  Boston 
Common  now  is,  he  had 
built  a  cottage  and  laid 
out  a  farm  with  an  or- 
chard. Here,  far  away 
from  all  controversies, 
at  peace  with  the  Indians 
and  at  peace  with  himself,  he  had  cultivated 
roses,  raised  apples,  and  read  his  books. 

William  Blackstone's  peace  was  soon  dis- 
turbed. The  story  is  told  that  Governor  Win- 
throp at  first  decided  to  take  possession  of  all  the 
land  at  Shawmut,  because  the  king  had  given  the 
whole  of  this  region  to  him  and  his  companions. 
Blackstone  stoutly  urged  his  right  to  the  land 
which  he  had  so  long  occupied.  He  said  that 


GOVERNOR    WINTHROP 


WILLIAM   BLACKSTONE  53 

if  the  King  of  England  could  give  away  land  in 
New  England  because  a  hundred  and  thirty 
years  before  two  Englishmen  had  sailed  along 
its  coasts,  he  himself  surely  owned  and  could 
keep  the  land  that  he  had  cultivated  for  seven 
years.  Governor  Winthrop  finally  changed  his 
mind  and  set  aside  fifty  acres  for  the  use  of 
William  Blackstone  and  his  children  forever. 

Blackstone  had  other  reasons  for  being  un- 
happy among  his  new  neighbors.  They  had  left 
England  so  that  they  might  have  more  freedom 
to  worship  God  in  their  own  way,  but  they  did 
not  leave  behind  their  controversies  or  their  dis- 
likes. Discussions  over  this  and  that  matter 
were  common.  If  any  new  settler  brought  new 
opinions,  he  found  that  he  could  have  no  more 
freedom  in  America  than  he  had  had  in  England. 
Blackstone  took  no  part  in  the  wranglings,  which 
grew  more  and  more  distasteful  to  him.  "  I  left 
England,"  he  said,  "  because  I  did  not  like  the 
Lord-Bishops ;  but  I  cannot  join  with  you,  be- 
cause I  would  not  be  under  the  Lord-Brethren." 
He  had  found  that  Puritan  ministers  were  no 
more  ready  to  give  liberty  and  freedom  than 
were  the  bishops  of  the  Church  of  England. 

When  he  could  endure  it  no  longer,  Blackstone 
sold  his  land,  bought  cattle  with  the  money, 
packed  up  his  goods,  and  pushed  off  into  the 


54 


AMERICAN    PIONEERS 


wilderness.  What  paths  he  took,  and  how  he 
got  his  animals  over  the  streams  and  through 
the  forest,  we  do  not  know;  but  he  traveled 
until  he  reached  a  rich  piece  of  land  now  in  the 

state  of  Rhode 
Island.  Here,  on 
the  banks  of  the 
river  afterward 
called  by  his 
name,  at  the  place 
now  called  Lons- 
dale,  he  built  a 
new  cottage,  and 
planted  a  new 
orchard.  His  farm 
he  called  Study 
Hill  and  his  cot- 
tage Study  Hall. 

THE  FIRST  SETTLEMENTS  OF  MASSACHUSETTS  W  11113111     lIlaCK- 

AM»    RHODE    ISLAND  StOttC         d  I  d         HOt 

keep  entirely  away  from  the  noise  of  the  rapidly 
growing  settlement  at  Boston.  He  made  fre- 
quent visits  to  his  old  home,  traveling  back  and 
forth  on  a  cream-colored  steer  which  he  had 
trained  to  carry  a  saddle.  When  he  returned 
from  one  of  these  visits,  he  did  not  come  alone. 
With  him  was  his  bride,  and  together  they  lived 
happily  for  many  years. 


WILLIAM    BLACKSTONE 


55 


Neighbors  began  to  arrive  even  at  Study  Hill. 
More  and  more  people  kept  coming  over  from 
E  n  g  1  a  n  d , 
and  so  new 
clearings 
were  contin- 
ually being 
made  in  the 
forests.  Ro- 
gerWilliams, 
who,  in  1636, 
had  been 
turned  out  of 
the  colony  of 
Massachu- 
setts Bay, 
had  started, 
a  little  to 
the  south  of 
Study  Hill, 
a  settlement 
which  he 
called  Prov- 
idence. To  this  settlement  anybody  and  every- 
body was  welcome,  no  matter  what  his  belief. 

At  the  foot  of  Study  Hill  a  road  was  built, 
because  at  that  point  was  the  best  ford  across 
the  river.  Over  this  road  travelers  went  back 


MONUMENT    TO    ROGER    WILLIAMS  AT 
PROVIDENCE,    R.  I. 


56  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

and  forth  from  the  settlements  up  the  river  to  the 
larger  town  below.  William  Blackstone  lived 
at  peace  with  them  all.  He  was  willing  that 
they  should  have  their  opinions,  and  they  were 
willing  that  he  should  have  his.  He  welcomed 
friends  at  his  fireside  and  he  was  welcomed  at 
theirs.  Frequently,  mounted  on  his  steer,  he 
went  to  preach  on  Sunday  at  Providence.  There 
were  always  a  great  many  boys  and  girls  in  his 
congregation  ;  perhaps,  because  of  what  he 
brought  them  rather  than  because  of  his  sermon. 
He  was  very  fond  of  children,  and  when  he  went 
to  Providence  he  always  filled  his  saddle-bags 
with  apples  from  his  orchard  at  Study  Hill. 

Blackstone  was  a  good  friend  of  all  the  In- 
dians round  about,  and  up  to  the  time  of  his 
death  the  settlers  of  Massachusetts  and  Rhode 
Island  had  little  trouble  with  their  red  neighbors. 
But  after  his  death  the  Indians  grew  jealous  of 
the  whites.  They  saw  their  hunting  grounds 
occupied  more  and  more  each  year  and  feared 
that  soon  nothing  would  be  left  for  them.  They 
determined  to  destroy  all  the  English  settlements 
and  get  rid  of  the  pale  faces  for  ever.  A  terrible 
Indian  war  broke  out,  and  a  fierce  battle  was 
fought  near  Study  Hill.  Blackstone's  house 
was  burned,  and  with  it  the  library  of  books  that 
he  had  brought  over  from  England  with  such 


WILLIAM   BLACKSTONE 


57 


care.       There     were    more    than    two    hundred 
volumes — a  large  library  for  those  times. 

Where  Study  Hall  once  stood,  is  now  a  great 
cotton  mill.  Where  once  was  heard  the  ripple 
of  the  river,  the  rustle  of  the  trees,  and  the  song 
of  the  birds,  is  now  heard  the  whirl  and  rattle 
of  machinery,  the  hum  of  a  multitude  of  voices, 
and  all  the  bustle  and  hurry  of  business  life. 
Near  the  walls  of  the  mill  is  a  monument  with 
this  inscription  :  "  The  grave  of  the  Rev.  William 
Blackstone,  founder  of  the  town  of  Boston  and 
the  first  white  settler  of  Rhode  Island." 


On  the  Road  to  Boston 


CHAPTER    V 

PETER   STUYVESANT 
1602-1682 

TT  was  the  Dutch  who  discovered  the  Hudson 
River,  and  the  Dutch  who  settled  New  York. 
Henry  Hudson  was  the  first  to  find  the  river 
which  now  bears  his  name.  He  himself  was  an 
Englishman,  not  a  Dutchman  ;  but  he  was  in 
the  employ  of  the  Dutch  trading  company. 
Hence,  he  was  sailing;  in  a  Dutch  vessel,  under 

o 

the  Dutch  flag.      So  we  say  that  the  Dutch  dis- 
covered the  river. 

It  came  about  in  this  way.  In  the  year  1609, 
two  years  after  the  English  had  made  their  first 
settlement  in  Virginia,'  the  Dutch  East  India 
Company  sent  Captain  Hudson  in  a  vessel  called 
The  Half  Moon,  to  find  a  short  passage  through 
North  America  to  China.  After  cruising  along 
the  coast  from  Newfoundland  to  Chesapeake 
Bay,  he  turned  back  northward,  and  in  Septem- 
ber, he  found  the  mouth  of  the  cfreat  river 

o 

that   flows  down    past   Albany   and    New  York 
City  to  the  ocean.      He  did  not  find  the  passage 


PETER   STUYVESANT  59 

through  to  China ;  but  he  made  a  great  dis- 
covery, and  great  results  came  from  it.  He  him- 
self did  not  give  his  name  to  the  river.  He 
called  it  the  North  River,  as  he  had  already 
named  the  Delaware  the  South  River.  Later, 


IIIK      I'ALISADKS    <>I-'    T1IK    HUDSON     KIVKR    OIM'OSITK 
MANHATTAN    ISLAM) 

South  River  got  its  new  name  from  Lord  De 
La  Warre,  and  Hudson's  name  was  given  to  the 
North  River. 

It  was  not  till  fourteen  years  after  Captain 
Hudson  had  made  his  great  discovery  and 
claimed  for  Holland  all  the  land  between  the 
North  and  the  South  rivers  that  the  Dutch  made 
their  first  permanent  settlement  at  New  Amster- 


6o 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


dam,  now  New  York  City.  A  little  later,  Peter 
Minuit  became  the  first  governor.  He  bought 
Manhattan  Island  of  the  Indians  for  trinkets 
valued  at  about  twenty-four  dollars.  Not  even 
millions  and  millions  of  dollars  could  buy  it 

to-day.  After  this 
first  Peter,  came 
Wouter  Van  Twil- 
ler,  as  governor, 
then  Wilhelmus 
Kieft,  then  the  last 
and  greatest  gov- 
ernor of  this  im- 
portant settlement, 
another  Peter — 
Peter  Stuyvesant. 
Peter  Stuyve- 
sant was  a  typical 
Dutchman.  He 
was  of  good 
height  and  fig- 
ure and  dressed 
with  great  care,  wearing  a  velvet  jacket  and  full 
puffed  shirt,  and  rosettes  upon  his  shoes — or 
rather,  a  rosette  upon  one  shoe,  as  he  had  lost 
a  leg  in  battle  and  wore  a  wooden  one  with 
silver  bands.  He  ruled  the  colony  with  a  rod 
of  iron.  Toward  the  people  he  was  cold, 


PETER   STUYVESANT  6l 

haughty,  and  passionate  ;  but  he  was  quick  to 
see  what  should  be  done  and  how  to  do  it,  and 
always  he  was  independent  and  willful. 

When  the  home  government  ordered  him  to 
appear  personally  in  Holland,  he  refused  to 
obey  and  said,  "  I  shall  do  as  I  please."  With 
equal  independence  he  dispersed  a  convention 

IK 


THE   EAST   RIVER    GATE    AND    BLOCKHOUSES   OF  THE   STOCKADE 

of  deputies  assembled  in  1653  from  the  little 
village  of  New  Netherland  to  demand  reforms. 
44  We  derive  our  authority  from  God  and  the 
company,"  asserted  Stuyvesant,  "  not  from  a  few 
ignorant  subjects." 

When  the  war  broke  out  between  Holland 
and  England,  that  year,  how  do  you  suppose  he 
made  the  town  secure  against  aland  attack  from 


62  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

the  north  ?  He  built  a  stockade,  twelve  feet 
high,  across  the  island  from  the  North  to  the 
East  rivers,  with  two  blockhouses  for  gates. 
This  line  was  along  what  is  now  Wall  Street, 
and  the  entire  village  was  south  of  the  stockade. 
Two  years  later  Stuyvesant  sent  a  rleet  of  seven 
vessels  and  seven  hundred  men  to  the  Delaware 
and  took  possession  of  New  Sweden. 

In  Stuyvesant's  day  Manhattan  Island  was 
occupied  by  small  farms  and  large  forests.  In  the 
forests,  the  tanners  obtained  the  bark  needed  in 
their  tan-yards,  and  the  children  found  chestnuts 
to  eat  and  fine  places  in  which  to  play  "  hide  and 
seek."  The  village  itself  was  situated  between  the 
present  "  Battery  "  and  Wall  Street,  and  the  vil- 
lagers had  their  gardens  near  by.  Further  north, 
Stuyvesant  purchased  at  a  very  small  price  a 
large  farm,  or — to  use  the  Dutch  word — boitwerie. 

Few  in  those  days  seemed  to  appreciate  the 
great  natural  advantages  of  Manhattan  Island 
for  a  large  city  and  for  immense  commerce.  In- 
deed, it  has  always  been  difficult  to  foresee 
where  great  cities  will  be  likely  to  grow  up. 
There  was  a  time  when  Newport,  Rhode  Island, 
had  outstripped  both  Boston  and  Philadelphia. 
Why  has  Chicago  outgrown  St  Louis?  and  why 
has  Seattle  so  quickly  become  larger  than 
Tacoma  or  even  Portland,  Oregon  ?  - 


PETER   STUYVESANT 


While  Stuyvesant  was  governor,  the  mer- 
chants of  old  Amsterdam  addressed  to  the  mer- 
chants of  New  Amsterdam  these  words  :— 
"When  your  commerce  becomes  established, 
and  your  ships  ride  on  every  part  of  the  ocean, 
throngs  that  look  toward  you  with  eager  eyes 


STUYVESANT'S  "BOUWEKIE"  HOUSE 

will  be  allured  to  embark  for  your  island."  How 
true  this  prophecy  became  !  Yet  its  fulfillment 
was  long  delayed.  To-day  it  is  estimated  that 
there  are  in '  New  York  City  more  Germans- 
parents  and  children — than  in  any  city  of  Ger- 
many except  Berlin,  and  that  there  are  more  Irish 
—parents  and  children — than  in  Dublin  itself. 
Besides  these  there  are  thousands  of  people  who 


64  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

were  born  in  one  foreign  country  or  another,  all 
over  the  world. 

But  then  the  colony  was  poor.  It  had  not  in- 
creased in  population  as  had  been  hoped,  and  the 
discontented  people  were  clamoring  for  a  gov- 
ernment by  the  people.  Already  the  English 
had  secured  everything  along  the  Connecticut 
River,  and  Stuyvesant  saw  no  door  of  relief  in 
any  direction.  Moreover,  the  English  king  had 
given  all  this  domain  to  the  Duke  of  York,  who 
secretly  fitted  out  a  fleet  to  sail  to  the  shores 
of  America.  This  was  in  1664. 

The  Duke  of  York's  fleet  blockaded  New 
Amsterdam  and  demanded  its  surrender.  Stuy- 
vesant wanted  to  fight ;  but  the  people  knew 
that  the  town  was  at  the  mercy  of  the  English 
and,  to  avoid  bloodshed,  proposed  to  surrender. 
The  terms  offered  by  the  English  were  security 
to  the  people  in  life,  liberty,  and  property,  only 
on  condition  that  they  acknowledge  the  British 
rule.  Stuyvesant,  dressed  in  his  best  velvet 
coat  and  frilled  shirt-front,  with  his  best 
rosette  on  his  shoe,  stormed  and  strutted 
around  outside  of  his  little  fortifications  and 
swore  he  would  never  surrender.  He  flour- 
ished his  arms  and  urged  his  people  to  resist 
the  invaders,  to  shoot  them  down  like  dogs  if 
they  dared  to  come  ashore,  and  to  give  their 


PETKR   STUYVESANT 


carcasses  to  the  beasts   of   the   fields  and   the 
fowls  of  the  air. 

New  Amsterdam  was  in  a  desperate  situation. 


From  the  painting  by  Powell 
STUYVESANT    DESTROYS    THE    DEMAND    EOR    SURRENDER 

Something  must  be  done  and  that  without  de- 
lay. The  principal  inhabitants  assembled  in  the 
public  hall  and  demanded  from  Stuyvesant  the 
letter  which  had  been  sent  to  him  by  the  com- 


66  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

mander  of  the  English  fleet.  The  angry  gov- 
ernor thereupon  tore  up  the  letter  and  scattered 
the  pieces  to  the  four  winds.  Then  the  people 
framed  a  protest  against  the  governor.  A  few 
days  of  parley  followed  ;  and  early  in  Septem- 
ber, 1664,  the  Dutch  government  of  New  Neth- 
erland  ceased  by  a  full  and  complete  surrender 
to  the  English  fleet  and  arms.  New  Amster- 
dam was  then  named  New  York. 

From  this  time  the  several  towns  in  the 
colony  were  permitted  to  choose  their  own 
magistrates,  and  New  York  was  allowed  to  elect 
its  own  deputies,  with  free  voice  in  all  public 
affairs.  Subsequently  the  Dutch  recaptured  the 
place ;  but  they  had  held  it  only  a  short  time 
when  the  English  again  secured  control.  Thence- 
forth the  colony  of  New  York  was  one  of  the 
most  powerful  and  prominent  of  the  English 
colonies  upon  the  Atlantic  coast  of  North 
America. 

The  year  following  his  surrender  to  the  Eng- 
lish, Stuyvesant  went  over  to  Holland.  Soon, 
however,  he  returned  to  New  York  and  passed 
the  remainder  of  his  days  on  his  farm  of  sixty 
acres  or  more,  which  then  lay  outside  the  city. 
Beyond  this  great  bouwerie,  woods  and  swamps 
stretched  to  the  northward  as  far  as  the  little 
village  of  Harlem. 


PETER   STUYVESANT 


67 


Stuyvesant  died  in  August,  1682,*  at  the  age 
of  eighty  years,  and  was  buried  in  St.  Mark's 
Church,  New  York  City.  In  the  outside  wall 
of  the  church  still  stands  the  stone  that  bears 
his  epitaph. 


*  Historical  research  fixes  the  date  of  Stuyvesant's  death  as 
1682.     The  date  in  the  epitaph  is  therefore  incorrect. 


CHAPTER  VI 

WILLIAM    PENN 
1644-1718 

the  fourth  of  March,    1681,  King  Charles 
II  of  England  signed  and  sealed  a  charter 
giving  to  William  Penn  the   "tract  of  territory 

between  the  bay  and 
river  of  Delaware  and 
Lord  Baltimore's  prov- 
ince of  Maryland."  Wil- 
liam Penn  was  a  Quaker, 
or,  as  he  would  have 
said,  "a  member  of  the 
Society  of  Friends." 

The   "Friends"  were 
a  peaceable  people,  who 
did  not  believe  in  wars 
and  fighting,  but  in  the 
doctrine     of     love     and 
good-will,  simple  habits, 
and   a  sober  life.       Be- 
cause   they    refused   to    serve    as  soldiers,    and 
because  they  did    not    believe  in   many  of    the 


WILLIAM    PENN  69 

laws  and  customs  of  the  English  people,  they 
frequently  suffered  much  persecution.  It  was 
to  give  them  a  refuge  that  William  Penn  ob- 
tained his  charter  fora  grant  of  land  in  America. 

His  next  step  was  to  advertise  for  purchasers 
of  his  land.  A  company  was  formed  of  mer- 
chants and  others,  mostly  Friends,  who  bought 
from  him  twenty  thousand  acres.  The  price 
paid  for  the  land  was  twenty  English  pounds 
for  a  thousand  acres,  or  ten  cents  of  our  money 
for  one  acre.  To-day  much  of  this  same  land 
could  not  be  bought  for  ten  cents  a  square  foot. 

The  first  colony  came  over  in  1681  and  began 
to  build  on  the  site  of  the  present  city  of  Phila- 
delphia. In  the  summer  of  the  next  year  William 
Penn  himself  came  over.  With  about  a  hundred 
persons  he  went  aboard  a  small  vessel  called  the 
Welcome,  Robert  Greenway,  master,  at  Deal, 
County  of  Kent,  and  sailed  away  to  America. 
They  were  nearly  two  months  on  the  voyage. 
To  add  to  their  other  sufferings,  that  awful 
plague  of  the  old  time,  small-pox,  broke  out, 
and  day  after  day  one  after  another  died  ;  till  on 
their  reaching  Upland  upon  the  banks  of  the 
Delaware,  only  seventy  were  left  to  land  in  the 
New  World.  Penn  was  constant  in  his  attention 
to  the  sick  and  did  everything  in  his  power  to 
aid  and  encourage  them.  One  of  the  passengers 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


afterwards  gave  this  testimony  of  his  unselfish 
care  during  that  fearful  voyage:  "The  kind 
words  of  William  Penn  were  very  welcome  to  all 


MAP  OF  THE 

MIDDLE  ATLANTIC 
COLONIES. 


THE  MIDDLE  COLONIES 


the  company.  His  singular  care  was  shown  in 
aiding  in  various  ways  many  who  were  sick  of 
the  small-pox,  of  which  more  than  thirty  died." 


WILLIAM   PENN  /I 

The  principles  upon  which  Penn  founded  his 
colony  were  very  different  from  those  of  the 
other  English  colonies.  Here  was  freedom 
for  all  men,  whether  Catholics,  Puritans,  Episco- 
palians, or  Quakers.  But  in  no  respect  did  this 
colony  differ  from  the  other  colonies  more  than 
in  its  treatment  of  the  Indians.  Penn's  ideas  of 
the  rights  of  the  white  men  and  the  red  men  is 
well  shown  by  a  quaint  writer  of  a  hundred  years 
ago.  He  gives  a  supposed  conversation  between 
Penn  and  King  Charles,  just  before  Penn  sailed 
for  the  New  World.  The  story  runs  as  follows  : 

"  '  Well ',  says  the  King,  '  I  have  sold  you  a 
valuable  province  in  North  America,  but  I  do 
not  suppose  that  you  intend  to  go  there  yourself.' 

"  'Yes,  indeed  I  do  ',  replied  Penn,  'and  I  am 
just  come  to  bid  thee  farewell.' 

"  '  What !  venture  yourself  among  the  savages 
of  North  America  ?  Why,  man,  they  will  be 
after  you  with  their  bows  and  arrows  and  blaz- 
ing torches,  in  two  hours  after  setting  foot  upon 
their  shores.' 

"'  I  think  not/ said  Penn. 

" '  What  security  have  you  against  those  canni- 
bals ?  You  will  need  soldiers,  with  their  mus- 
kets and  bayonets  ;  and,  mind,  I  tell  you  before- 
hand, that  with  all  my  respect  and  good-will  for 
you  and  your  family,  to  whom  I  am  under  obli- 


AMERICAN    PIONEERS 


gations,   I   will   not   send   a   single   soldier  with 
you.' 

u<  I  want  none  of  thy  soldiers,  Friend  Charles, 
I  depend  upon  something  better  than  thy  soldiers.' 

"The  king 
wanted  to  know 
what  that  could  be. 
'-Why,  I  de- 
pend on  them- 
selves, on  their 
own  moral  sense ; 
even  that  grace  of 
God  which  bring- 
eth  salvation,  and 
which  hath  ap- 
peared unto  all 
men.' 

"  '  I  fear,  Friend 
William,  that  that  grace  has  never  appeared  to 
the  Indians  of  North  America.' 

"  *  Why  not  to  them  as  well  as  to  all  others  ?' 
"  '  If  it  had  appeared  to  them,  they  would  not 
have  treated  my  subjects  so  barbarously  as  they 
have  done.' 

"'That  is  no  proof  to  the  contrary,  Friend 
Charles.  Thy  subjects  were  the  aggressors. 
When  thy  subjects  first  went  to  North  America, 
they  found  these  poor  people  the  fondest  and 


KIM;  CIIARLKS  ii 


WILLIAM    PENN  73 

kindest  people  in  the  world.  They  would  feast 
them  on  their  best  fish  and  venison  and  corn, 
which  was  all  that  they  had.  In  return  for  all 
their  kindnesses,  thy  subjects,  called  Christians, 
seized  on  their  country  and  rich  hunting  grounds 
for  farms  for  themselves.  Now  is  it  to  be  won- 
dered at  that  these  much  injured  people  should 
have  been  driven  to  desperation  by  such  injus- 
tice ;  and  that  burning  with  revenge  they  should 
have  committed  some  excesses  ? ' 

"  '  Well,  then,  I  hope  you  will  not  complain 
when  they  come  to  treat  you  in  the  same  man- 
ner/ 

"  '  I  am  not  afraid  of  it.' 

"  *  But,  how  will  you  avoid  it  ?  You  mean  to 
get  their  hunting  grounds,  too,  I  suppose.' 

"  'Yes,  but  not  by  driving  these  poor  people 
away  from  them.' 

"  4  Indeed,  then,  how  will  you  get  their  lands  ?' 

"  *  I  mean  to  buy  their  lands  of  them.' 

"  '  Buy  their  lands  of  them  !  Why,  man,  you 
have  already  bought  them  of  me.' 

"  '  Yes,  I  know  I  have,  and  at  a  dear  rate,  too  ; 
but  I  did  it  only  to  get  thy  good-will,  not  that  I 
thought  thou  hadst  any  right  to  their  lands.' 

"  '  Zounds,  man  !  no  right  to  their  lands  ! ' 

"  '  No,  Friend  Charles,  no  right  at  all.  What 
right  hast  thou  to  their  lands  ?' 


74 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


"  '  Why,  the  right  of  discovery,  the  right  which 
the  Pope  and  all  Christian  kings  have  agreed  to 
give  one  another.' 

"  *  The  right  of  discovery  !  a  strange  kind  of 
right  indeed.  Now  suppose,  Friend  Charles, 

some  canoe- 
1  o  ad  s  of 
these  same 
savages 
crossing  the 
seas  and  dis- 
coveringthy 
island  of 
Great  Brit- 
ain were  to 

Cmlll  aS 

their          OWtt, 

and  set  it  up 

for  sale  over  thy  head,  what  wouldst  thou  think 
of  it?' 

"  '  Why,  why,  why,  I  confess  I  should  think  it 
a  piece  of  great  impudence  in  them.' 

"  '  Well,  then,  how  canst  thou,  a  Christian,  and 
a  Christian  prince,  too,  do  that  which  thou  so 
utterly  condemnest  in  these  people  whom  thou 
callest  savages  ?  ' 

"The  king  was  obliged  to  give  at  least  a  tacit 
agreement  to  this  argument. 


THE    SECOND    HOME   OF    WILLIAM    PENN    IN    PHI  LA- 
DELPHIA,  ROOFED  WITH  SLATE  AND  ELEGANTLY 

FURNISHED 


WILLIAM    PENN  75 

"  '  Well,  then,  Friend  Charles,  how  can  I,  who 
call  myself  a  Christian,  a  follower  of  the  meek 
and  lowly  Jesus,  a  man  of  peace,  how  can  I  do 
what  I  abhor,  even  in  heathens  ?  No,  I  will  not 
do  it.  But  I  will  buy  the  right  of  the  proper 
owners,  even  of  the  Indians  themselves  !" 

Thus  William  Penn,  true  to  his  convictions  of 
justice  and  right,  soon  after  his  arrival  in  the 
New  World,  called  a  meeting  of  the  Indians 
who  lived  in  that  section  of  the  country.  With 
them  he  made  a  famous  treaty.  Yes,  indeed,  it 
was  a  famous  treaty.  That  treaty  between 
William  Penn  and  his  followers  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  Indian  king  on  the  other,  is  well  worth 
our  careful  study. 

The  day  on  which  it  was  made  was  a  beautiful 
autumn  day  near  the  close  of  November.  The 
tall  trees  on  either  bank  of  the  Delaware  had 
shed  their  leaves,  but  the  sun  was  bright  and 
the  air  was  mild.  All  nature  was  still  and  quiet 
as  if  wrapped  in  thought  and  preparing  for  the 
great  transaction  about  to  take  place. 

Under  a  wide-spreading  tree,  at  a  place  which 
was  called  by  the  Indians  Shackamaxon,  a  coun- 
cil-fire had  been  built.  Near  it  was  seated  a 
company  of  chiefs  with  their  counselors  and 
aged  men  on  either  hand.  In  the  midst  of  the 
group  was  the  great  Sachem,  Taminend,  "one 


70  AMERICAN    PIONEERS 

of  nature's  noblemen,  revered  for  his  wisdom 
and  beloved  for  his  goodness."  Behind  them  in 
the  form  of  a  half-circle  sat  the  young  men  and 
a  few  aged  matrons.  Beyond  them  in  still- 
widening  circles  were  the  younger  people  of 


PENN    TREATING    WITH    THE    INDIANS 

both  sexes.  Lacy  Cock,  the  hospitable  Swede 
whose  dwelling  was  near  by,  and  a  few  other 
white  men,  also  were  of  the  company.  Quietly 
all  awaited  Penn's  coming. 

A  barge  now  appeared  on  the  mild  waters  of 
the  Delaware  and  approached  the  place  of  meet- 


WILLIAM    PENN  77 

ing.  At  the  mast-head  was  the  broad  pennant 
of  the  governor.  The  oars  were  manned  by 
sturdy  rowers,  and  near  the  stern  sat  William 
Penn,  attended  by  his  council.  They  landed 
and  advanced  toward  the  council-fire,  Penn's  at- 
tendants walking  before  him,  bearing  presents, 
which  they  spread  upon  the  ground. 

Taminend  put  on  his  chaplet,  surmounted  by 
a  small  horn,  the  emblem  of  kingly  power.  By 
means  of  an  interpreter,  he  intimated  that  the 
nations  assembled  were  ready  to  hear  what  the 
white  father  had  to  say  to  them.  Then  Penn 
arose  and  addressed  them  through  the  inter- 
preter. Clarkson,  the  great  English  philan- 
thropist, says  that  he  spoke  as  follows  : 

"  The  Great  Spirit,  who  made  you  and  me, 
who  rules  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  and  who 
knows  the  inmost  thoughts  of  men,  knows  that 
I  and  my  friends  have  a  hearty  desire  to  live  in 
peace  and  friendship  with  you,  and  to  serve  you 
to  the  utmost  of  our  power.  It  is  not  our  cus- 
tom to  use  hostile  weapons  against  our  fellow- 
creatures,  for  which  reason  we  have  come  un- 
armed. Our  object  is  not  to  do  injury,  and  thus 
provoke  the  Great  Spirit,  but  to  do  good.  We 
have  met  on  the  broad  pathway  of  good  faith 
and  good-will  so  that  no  advantage  is  to  be 
taken  on  either  side,  but  all  to  be  openness, 


78  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

• 

brotherhood,  and  love."  Here  the  Governor 
unrolled  a  parchment,  containing  agreements 
for  trade  and  promises  of  friendship.  Then  he 
proceeded  : 

"  I  will  not  do  as  the  Marylanders  did,  that  is, 
call  you  children  or  brothers  only  ;  for  parents 
are  apt  to  whip  their  children  too  severely,  and 
brothers  sometimes  differ.  Neither  will  I  com- 
pare the  friendship  between  us  to  a  chain  ;  for 
the  rain  may  rust  it,  or  a  tree  may  fall  and  break 
it.  But  I  will  consider  you  as  the  same  flesh 
and  blood  with  the  Christians,  and  the  same  as 
if  one  man's  body  were  to  be  divided  into  two 
parts." 

The  Indians  took  time  to  think  on  what  Penn 
had  said  to  them,  and  then  the  king  ordered  one 
of  his  chiefs  to  reply.  The  Indian  orator  came 
forward  and  in  the  name  of  the  king  saluted 
Penn.  Then  he  took  him  by  the  hand  and 
made  a  speech,  pledging  kindness  and  good 
neighborhood  and  that  they  would  "  live  in  love 
with  William  Penn  and  his  children  as  long  as 
the  sun  and  the  moon  shall  endure." 

The  Indians  then  agreed  to  give  to  Penn  all 
the  land  bounding  on  the  great  river  from  the 
mouth  of  Duck  Creek  to  what  is  now  Bristol, 
and  from  the  river  towards  the  setting  sun  as  far 
as  a  man  could  ride  in  two  days  on  a  horse. 


WILLIAM    PENN 


79 


Penn  not  only  paid  the  Indians  for  the  land,  but 
he  did  everything  possible  to  add  to  their  happi- 


INDIAN  RECEIPT  FOR  TEN  THOUSAND  DOLLARS  IN  PAYMENT  OF  LAND 
SOLD  BY  THE  REPRESENTATIVES  OF  THE  SIX  NATIONS  TO  THE  DE- 
SCENDANTS OF  WILLIAM  PENN,  1769 

ness  and  improvement.     As  a  result  they  were 
kind  and  friendly  in  return. 

This  peaceful  intercourse  between  the  people 


8O  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

of  Pennsylvania  and  the  Indians  continued  with- 
out interruption  as  long  as  the  principles  of 
Penn  prevailed  in  the  colony.  This  treaty  kept 
so  long  a  time  well  illustrates  the  truth  that 
the  doctrine  of  peace  promotes  the  happiness 
of  man. 

Voltaire,  the  great  French  philosopher,  said 
of  this  treaty  :  "  William  Penn  began  by  making 
a  league  with  the  Americans,  his  neighbors.  It 
is  the  only  one  between  those  natives  and  the 
Christians  which  was  never  sworn  to,  and  the 
only  one  that  was  never  broken." 

The  tree  under  which,  as  tradition  says,  the 
treaty  was  made  stood  until  March,  1810,  when 
it  was  blown  over  by  the  wind.  It  was  twenty- 
four  feet  in  circumference  and  two  hundred  and 
eighty-three  years  old.  The  state  of  Pennsyl- 
vania has  purchased  the  land  where  this  treaty 
was  made  ;  and  where  the  tree  once  stood,  the 
Penn  Society  has  erected  a  monument  to  com- 
memorate the  founding  of  Pennsylvania  "  by 
deeds  of  peace." 

The  life  of  William  Penn  is  well  worth  our 
study  and  imitation.  How  happy  6\ir  race  will 
be  when  it  follows  the  principles  which  governed 
his  life  !  Then  the  doctrines  of  peace  and  good- 
will shall  everywhere  prevail,  and  the  Golden 
Rule  control  the  affairs  of  all  nations. 


PIONEERS    OF    CIVILIZATION 

The  Second  Migration— Over  the  Alleghanies 

CHAPTER    VII 

FATHER    MAROUETTE 

1637-1675 

/^•HAMPLAIN'S  colony  had  hardly  been  es- 
tablished at  Quebec  before  a  company  of 
French  priests  arrived.  They  came  to  preach 
not  to  their  countrymen,  but  to  the  Indians.  The 
first  company  was  followed  by  others,  and  all 
scattered  in  little  groups  of  twos  and  threes 
through  the  forests.  They  went  where  no  other 
white  men  had  ever  been  ;  and  when,  by  and  by, 
fur-traders  and  adventurers  reached  the  shores 
of  the  great  inland  waters,  they  wondered  to 
find  in  some  distant  Indian  village  or  on  some 
lonely  headland  a  cross  or  a  tiny  chapel. 

These  priests,  or  Jesuits,  as  they  were   called 
because  they  belonged  to  a  society  known  as  the 


82  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

Society  of  Jesus,  endured  great  hardships.  They 
could  not  carry  much  baggage  in  their  small 
canoes,  so  they  took  with  them  the  articles  used 
in  the  service  of  their  church  and  left  behind 
the  things  they  needed  for  their  own  comfort. 
They  lived  in  much  the  same  way  as  did  the 
Indians.  They  slept  on  the  same  kind  of  hard 


INDIAN    BELT  OF  BEADS 


beds ;  they  ate  the  same  kinds  of  disagreeable 
foods.  Many  died  from  exposure  ;  many  were 
killed  by  the  savages. 

The  heroism  and  patience  of  these  Catholic 
priests  ought  to  have  received  an  abundant  re- 
ward, but  their  teachings  fell  upon  very  stony 
hearts.  The  Indians  were  baptized  and  gladly 
hung  crucifixes  and  images  of  saints  about  their 
necks ;  but  it  was  more  because  they  were  at- 
tracted by  the  glitter  of  these  objects  and  were 
eager  to  receive  beads  and  tobacco  than  because 
they  desired  to  change  their  manner  of  living. 

The  most  successful  missions  were  among  the 
Hurons  who  lived  on  the  eastern  shore  of  Lake 


FATHER  MARQUETTE  83 

Huron-  This  nation  had  a  deadly  foe,  the  Iro- 
quois,  the  most  savage  tribe  of  all  the  Indians. 
In  the  early  springtime,  they  came  with  all  their 
warriors  into  the  country  of  the  Hurons,  burning, 
destroying,  killing,  wherever  they  went  The 
Hurons  who  were  left  fled  and  sought  new 
homes  far  away.  One  band  finally  settled  on 
the  peninsula  between  Lake  Superior  and  Lake 
Michigan  on  the  west,  and  Lake  Huron  on  the 
east ;  and  hither  came  Father  Marquette. 

Here,  in  the  northern  part  of  this  peninsula, 
at  the  gate-way  between  these  great  bodies  of 
water,  was  an  ideal  place  for  a  mission  station. 
It  was  the  gathering  place  of  all  the  tribes  for 
many  miles  around,  for  it  was  the  **  home  of  the 
fishes."  The  Indians  considered  it  a  sacred 
place  and  told  many  legends  about  it.  They 
said  that  a  large  company  of  warriors  was  once 
gathered  at  sunrise  on  the  point  where  St.  Ignace 
now  stands.  It  was  the  moon  of  February,  the 
month  sacred  to  the  Great  Manitou.  While  they 
were  looking  out  over  the  water,  something  be- 
sides the  sun  rose  out  of  the  lake.  At  first  it 
looked  like  the  back  of  a  great  turtle,  but  when 
in  the  memory  of  man  was  there  a  turtle  so 
large  ?  It  rose  higher  and  higher  and  finally  it 
showed  itself  to  be  a  beautiful  island.  The  In- 
dians ever  after  called  this  a  holy  place  and 


84  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

never  passed  it  without  making  some  offering 
to  the  fairies  who  were  supposed  to  live  in  the 
caverns  under  the  island. 

These  fairies  were  in  the  habit,  so  the  legend 
says,  of  coming  out  and  dancing  on  the  beach 
after  dark.  One  night  an  Indian  chief  was 
greatly  honored.  While  he  was  asleep,  a  hand 
touched  him  and  beckoned  him  to  follow.  His 
spirit  immediately  left  his  body  and  went  with 
the  fairy.  She  led  him  through  the  entrance 
beneath  the  hill  into  a  large  and  beautiful  wig- 
wam, where  the  great  spirits  were  seated  in 
solemn  Indian  fashion.  The  chief  was  permitted 
to  see  many  wonderful  sights,  and  after  some 
time  the  Master  Spirit  called  the  guide,  and  he 
was  led  back  to  his  body.  When  he  awoke  the 
next  morning,  he  told  of  his  visit  ;  but  what  he 
had  seen  and  what  he  had  heard  no  one  could 
get  him  to  describe.  Nobody  else  ever  had  a 
similar  experience,  and  the  Indians  never  learned 
more  about  the  home  of  the  fairies. 

The  Indians  called  the  island  Moe-che-ne- 
mack-e-nung,  which  means  a  great  turtle.  The 
French  called  it  Mich-il-i-mac-kin-ac,  which  we 
have  shortened  to  Mackinac.  This  name  is 
given  not  only  to  the  island,  but  also  to  the  strait 
which  connects  lakes  Michigan  and  Huron  and 
to  the  town  on  its  southern  shore.  Father  Mar- 


FATHER    MARQUETTE  85 

quette  lived  on  the  island  until  his  chapel  was 
built  on  the  mainland.  Its  sides  were  of  rough 
logs  and  its  roof  was  of  bark.  Beside  it  were 
two  or  three  houses,  and  around  the  whole  was 


From  a  print  of  1870 


FORT    AND    TOWN    OF    MACKINAC 


a  strong  fence  of  upright  logs.      Outside  clear- 
ings were  made  where  corn  was  raised. 

At  the  station  Father  Marquette  said  the 
mass,  baptized  the  children,  buried  the  dead,  and 
attended  to  all  the  wants  of  his  savage  flock. 
Here,  too,  every  year  came  wandering  tribes  to 
fish  and  to  hunt ;  and  from  them  he  heard  of  a 
great  river  which  flowed  from  the  north  on  and 
on,  ever  growing  larger  and  larger  until  it 


86  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

reached  the  far  distant  south.  Did  it  flow  into 
the  Vermilion  Sea,  as  the  Gulf  of  California  was 
called  ?  Did  it  empty  its  waters  into  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico  ?  Did  it  twist  to  the  east  and  reach 
the  Atlantic  Ocean  near  Virginia?  If  only  he 
could  go  and  see  and  carry  the  story  of  the  Vir- 
gin and  of  Jesus  to  the  many,  many  tribes  that 
must  live  upon  its  banks! 

For  two  years  Father  Marquette  labored  at 
Michilimackinac,  until  one  day  Louis  Joliet  ar- 
rived at  the  station.  The  fame  of  the  great 
river  had  reached  even  to  Quebec,  and  he  had 
been  sent  out  to  persuade  Father  Marquette  to 
find  it.  With  great  joy  the  priest  made  hurried 
preparations,  and  in  a  few  days  the  simple  outfit 
was  ready.  They  had  two  canoes,  a  small  stock 
of  dried  meat  and  Indian  corn,  and  five  men. 

This  little  company  set  out  about  the  middle 
of  May,  1672  ;  and  when  night  came,  they  had 
arrived  at  the  country  of  the  Wild  Rice  Indians. 
This  name  had  been  given  the  Indians  because 
such  quantities  of  wild  rice  grew  on  the  banks 
of  their  streams.  They  were  very  fond  of  the 
rice,  and  Marquette  has  given  an  interesting  ac- 
count of  the  way  they  gathered  and  prepared  it 
for  food.  In  September,  he  says,  the  Indians 
go  in  their  canoes  through  the  fields  of  rice  and 
shake  the  grain  into  the  canoes  as  they  advance. 


FATHER   MARQUETTE  8/ 

When  it  is  ripe,  the  grain  falls  easily ;  and  in  a 
little  time  the  canoes  are  full.  Then  it  is  dried 
over  a  slow  fire  for  several  days,  so  that  the 
outer  covering  will  fall  off  easily.  After  that,  it 
is  placed  in  a  hole  in  the  ground  and  trodden 


INDIANS    GATHERING    WILD    RICE 


upon  until  the  chaff  is  cleaned  from  the  grain. 
Finally,  it  is  powdered  into  meal  and  boiled  with 
water  and  grease. 

The  Wild  Rice  Indians  received  the  adven- 
turers kindly  ;  but  when  they  told  where  they 
were  going,  their  hosts  tried  to  hold  them  back. 
"  Hostile  Indians  live  on  the  banks  of  the  great 
river,"  they  said.  "  It  is  treacherous  and  is  in- 


88  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


INDIAN    PEACE-PIPE 


habited  by  demons  that  destroy  all 
strangers."    Marquette    told    them 
that  even  these  terrors  could  not 
keep  him  from  continuing  on  his 
journey.       He    blessed    them   and 
departed.      In  just  a  month  from 
the  day  he  and  Joliet  left  the  mis- 
sion, they  reached  the  Mississippi. 
For  two  weeks  they  paddled  on 
and  saw  no  sign  of   Indians.     At 
last,  seeing  footprints  in  the  mud, 
Marquette   and   Joliet   decided   to 
follow  them.    Soon  they  came  upon 
a  village,   and    immediately  there 
was   an    uproar.     The    In- 
dians swarmed  out  of  their 
wigwams   and   four   chiefs 
met    them,    holding    high 
the     peace-pipe.        "  Who 
are     you  ?."     asked     Mar- 
quette.    "  We  are  Illinois," 
they  replied.     The  peace- 
pipes    were    smoked ;    and 
the  strangers  were   led  to 
the      principal       wigwam, 
where  the  chief  met  them 
with  a  speech  of  welcome. 
Longfellow,    in    his    beau- 


FATHER   MARQUETTE  89 

sm   of 
follows  : 


tiful    poem    of   Hiawatha,   has    translated    it    as 

f/^ll/^Axrc;    • 


Then  the  joyous  Hiawatha 
Cried  aloud  and  spake  in  this  wise  : 
"  Beautiful  is  the  sun,  O  strangers, 
When  you  come  so  far  to  see  us  ! 
All  our  town  in  peace  awaits  you, 
All  our  doors  stand  open  for  you  ; 
You  shall  enter  all  our  wigwams, 
For  the  heart's  right  hand  we  give  you. 

"  Never  bloomed  the  earth  so  gaily, 
Never  shone  the  sun  so  brightly, 
As  to-day  they  shine  and  blossom 
When  you  come  so  far  to  see  us  ! 
Never  was  our  lake  so  tranquil, 
Nor  so  free  from  rocks  and  sand-bars  ; 
For  your  birch  canoe  .;n  passing 
Has  removed  both  rock  and  sand-bar  ! 

"  Never  before  had  our  tobacco 
Such  a  sweet  and  pleasant  flavor, 
Never  the  broad  fields  of  our  cornfields 
Were  so  beautiful  to  look  on, 
As  they  seem  to  us  this  morning, 
When  you  come  so  far  to  see  us  !  " 

And  the  Black-Robe  chief  made  answer, 
Stammered  in  his  speech  a  little, 
Speaking  words  yet  unfamiliar  : 

"Peace  be  with  you,  Hiawatha, 
Peace  be  with  you  and  your  people, 
Peace  of  prayer,  and  peace  of  pardon, 
Peace  of  Christ,  and  joy  of  Mary  !  " 

The  Indians  set  before  their  guests  a  feast. 
"  It  consisted,"  says  Marquette,  "  of  four  courses 
which  we  had  to  take  with  all  their  ways.  The 


90  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

first  course  was  a  great  wooden  dish  full  of 
sagamity,  that  is  to  say,  of  Indian  meal  boiled 
in  water  and  seasoned  with  grease.  The  master 
of  ceremonies,  with  a  spoonful  of  sagamity,  pre- 
sented it  three  or  four  times  to  my  mouth,  as  we 
would  do  with  a  little  child  ;  he  did  the  same 


INDIAN    METHOD    OF    BROILING    I 


with  M.  Joliet.  For  the  second  course  he 
brought  in  another  dish  containing  three  fish, 
removed  the  bones,  and  having  blown  upon  it  to 
cool  it,  put  it  to  my  mouth  as  we  would  food  to 
a  bird.  For  a  third  course  they  produced  a 
large  dog  which  they  had  just  killed,  but  learn- 
ing that  we  did  not  eat  it,  it  was  withdrawn. 
Finally,  the  fourth  course  was  a  piece  of  wild 
buffalo,  the  fattest  portions  of  which  were  put 
into  our  mouths." 


FATHER*  MARQUETTE  gi 

The  travelers  were  not  always  so  kindly 
treated.  Further  down  the  river  the  Indians 
were  unfriendly.  At  first  Marquette  feared  that 
they  would  be  killed  ;  but  finally  the  peace-pipe 
was  smoked,  and  they  were  given  food  and  shel- 
ter. The  devouring  demons,  prophesied  by  the 
Wild  Rice  Indians,  did  not  appear  ;  but  they 
did  see,  high  up  on  the  face  of  a  cliff,  two  terrible 
creatures,  "  as  large  as  a  calf,  with  horns  like  a 
deer,  red  eyes,  a  beard  like  a  tiger,  and  a  frightful 
expression  of  countenance.  The  face  is  some- 
what like  a  man's,  the  body  covered  with  scales ; 
and  the  tail  so  long  that  it  passes  entirely  round 
the  body,  over  the  head,  and  between  the  legs 
ending  like  that  of  a  fish."  These  demons  or 
gods  were  painted  in  red,  black,  and  green  and 
were  greatly  feared  by  the  Indians. 

A  little  beyond  the  cliffs  Marquette  and  his 
companion  reached  the  Missouri  River,  which 
brought  such  a  quantity  of  trees  and  drift  in  its 
torrent  that  the  canoes  were  nearly  capsized. 
The  travelers  met  with  no  more  serious  adven- 
tures than  these  ;  and  when  they  had  reached 
the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas  River,  they  decided 
to  return.  They  had  found  the  Mississippi  and 
had  followed  its  course  far  enough  to  discover 
that  it  flowed  neither  into  the  Pacific  nor  into 
the  Atlantic,  but  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 


92  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

The  journey  back  was  difficult  ;  but  at  the  end 
of  four  months  from  the  time  the  two  men  left 
the  mission  station,  they  reached  Lake  Michigan 
again.  They  had  traveled  in  all  twenty-five 
hundred  miles.  Joliet  went  back  to  Quebec  to 
carry  the  story  of  the  discovery  ;  Marquette 
remained  behind  in  the  wilderness.  He  had 
become  much  interested  in  the  Illinois  Indians. 
The  word  Illinois  means  "the  men",  and  in  all 
respects  they  seemed  to  be  a  finer  race  than  any 
other  he  had  seen  among  the  Indians.  The  next 
autumn,  though  he  was  ill  and  knew  that  he  had 

o 

only  a  short  time  to  live,  he  went  to  start  a  mis- 
sion among  the  Illinois. 

When  he  reached  the  southern  end  of  Lake 
Michigan  he  could  go  no  farther.  His  Indian 
companions  built  a  little  hut,  and  here  he  spent 
the  winter — the  first  white  man  on  the  site  of 
Chicago.  In  the  spring,  being  better,  he  went 
on  and  started  a  mission  at  Kaskaskia.  His 
strength  was  now  g'one,  and  he  was  anxious  to 
return  to  Michilimackinac.  A  great  company 
of  Indians  followed  him  as  far  as  the  lake.  Here 
he  left  them  and  started  for  home.  He  died  on 
the  way  and  was  buried  on  the  shore  of  the 
lake. 

The  next  year  the  Indians  tenderly  carried 
his  bones  to  his  old  mission.  As  they  proceeded 


FATHER   MARQUETTE 


93 


on  the  lake,  they  were  joined  by  more  and  more 
canoes,  until,  by  the  time  they  reached  Michili- 
mackinac  there 
were  thirty  boats 
in  the  procession. 
At  the  shore  they 
were  met  by  all  the 
priests  and  traders 
of  the  mission. 
The  rough  box 
was  carried  to  the 
chapel  and  buried 
beneath  its  rloor.* 
An  old  record 
says  that  Father 
Marquette  "  was 

the    first     and      last  MARQUKTTK'S  GRAVE 

white  man  who  ever  had  such  an  assembly  of 
the  wild  sons  of  the  forest  to  attend  him  to 
the  grave." 


*  The  little  chapel  of  St.  Ignace,  on  the  mainland  opposite 
Mackinac,  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  1706,  and  it  was  not  until 
1877  that  Marquette's  grave  was  discovered.  In  1882  the  present 
monument  was  erected  by  the  citi/.ens  of  St.  Ignace.  , 


CHAPTER    VIII 

PIERRE    D'IBERVILLE 
1661-1706 

pIERRE      LE     MOYNE     D'IBERVILLE 

(e-ber-vel')  was  one  of  eleven  sons  of  a 
Canadian  gentleman.  All  of  them  gave  their 
talents,  and  many  lost  their  lives,  in  pushing 
forward  the  cause  of  France  in  the  New  World. 
Iberville  was  the  most  beloved  of  all  the  brothers. 
When  he  was  only  fourteen  years  old  he  became 
a  midshipman  in  the  navy  ;  and  from  that  time 
until  his  death,  he  was  here,  there,  everywhere, 
north,  east,  south,  and  west,  in  the  service  of 
France. 

At  one  time  we  hear  of  him  as  one  of  the 
leaders  in  an  expedition  against  an  English  set- 
tlement in  New  York.  Three  times  he  went  to 
Hudson's  Bay  and  seized  the  English  forts  there. 
As  the  commander  of  a  French  frigate,  he  cap- 
tured three  English  ships  and  then  attacked  the 
fortifications  at  Newfoundland.  The  commander 
sent  him  word  that  he  would  not  give  up  the 
fort,  even  though  "the  sea  was  white  with 


PIERRE   I)  IBERVILLE 


95 


French  sails  and  the  land  dark  with  Indians." 
But  his  supplies  gave  out  before  his  courage, 
and  he  was  forced  at  last  to  surrender  to  keep 
his  garrison  from  starvation. 

These  and  other  successes  made  Iberville  the 
most  famous  officer  in  the  French  service.  He 
was  called  "  the  idol  of 
his  countrymen,"  and  his 
sailors  would  have  fol- 
lowed him  to  the  ends  of 
the  earth.  When  peace 
had  been  declared  be- 
tween France  and  Eng- 
land, Iberville  asked  per- 
mission to  take  a  colony 
to  the  valley  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi River.  He  hoped 

to      Secure      all      the     vast     ROBERT  CAVELIKR  DE  LA  SALLE 

stretches  of  country  from  the  mouth  of  ''the 
Father  of  Waters "  to  the  mouth  of  the  St. 
Lawrence. 

A  few  years  after  Father  Marquette  had  dis- 
covered the  Mississippi,  another  Frenchman, 
Cavelier  de  La  Salle,  had  made  a  more  thorough 
exploration  of  the  river.  He  had  descended  to 
its  mouth,  and  in  the  name  of  France  had  taken 
possession  of  the  whole  country,  calling  it  Lou- 
isiana, in  honor  of  King  Louis. 


90  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

The  Gulf  of  Mexico  was  a  long  way  from 
Quebec,  and  Frenchmen  could  hardly  expect  to 
keep  all  these  thousands  of  miles  for  themselves 
without  many  forts  and  soldiers  and  settlements. 
Quebec  guarded  the  gateway  of  this  region  on 
the  north.  It  would  be  hard  work  for  the 


From  the  painting  by  Gaudin  in  the  Versailles  Gallery 

THE    FRENCH    FLEET    ON    THE    LOUISIANA    COAST 

lish  to  get  past  her  forts.  If  only  a  colony  could 
guard  the  gateway  at  the  south,  then  the  ene- 
mies of  France  could  not  enter  except  over  the 
mountains  to  the  east. 

The  ships  carrying  Iberville's  colony  reached 
safely  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  On  the  way,  they 
had  had  a  fight  with  the  English,  but  Iberville 
with  his  usual  success  had  beaten  them  off.  He 


PIERRE  D'IBERVILLE  97 

carefully  searched  the  coast  for  the  best  place 
for  a  settlement.  First  he  visited  a  group  of 
islands  which  he  called  Chandeleur  Islands,  be- 
cause they  were  discovered  on  Candlemas  Day. 
They  were  flat  and  sandy,  so  shelters  were  put 
up  on  another  island  which  was  named  Ship 
Island  because  it  had  a  good  anchorage  for  ships. 
The  next  island  was  small  and  marshy,  and  was 
overrun  by  a  strange  animal  which  was  neither 
a  cat  nor  a  fox.  The  place  so  swarmed  with 
them  that  one  of  the  men  cried,  "  This  must  be 
the  kingdom  of  cats  !  "  Therefore  it  is  called 
Cat  Island  to  this  day. 

Leaving  the  rest  of  the  colonists,  Iberville  set 
out  with  two  boats  to  find  the  Mississippi.  He 
reached  the  mouth  of  a  great  river  whose  waters 
were  covered  by  masses  of  trees  and  driftwood. 
"  Surely,"  said  Iberville,  "this  must  be  the  Father 
of  Waters"  ;  but  that  he  might  not  make  a  mis- 
take, he  went  a  ten  days'  journey"  up  the  river. 
At  this  point  he  found  a  proof  that  put  all  his 
doubts  to  rest.  It  was  nothing  less  than  a  letter  ; 
a  bit  of  "speaking  bark,"  the  Indians  called  it. 
It  had  been  left  there  by  Tonti,  a  friend  of  La 
Salle.  The  Indians  called  him  the  Iron  Hand, 
because  he  wore  an  iron  hand  in  place  of  the 
one  he  had  lost  in  battle.  To  their  great  won- 
der he  had  learned  to  use  it  with  skill. 


98  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

A  rumor  had  reached  Tonti  in  his  northern 
home  that  La  Salle  had  returned  to  Louisiana 
with  a  colony  by  way  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and 
the  Mississippi.  Tonti  immediately  set  out  with 
a  few  Indians  in  birch  canoes  on  a  journey  of  a 
thousand  miles  and  more  to  meet  his  friend.  He 
waited  day  after  day  ;  but  as  La  Salle  did  not 

appear  and  he  could  wait 
no  longer,  he  left  this  let- 
ter with  the  Indians,  tell- 
ing them  to  give  it  to 
the  first  white  man  who 
should  come  up  the  river. 
Iberville  bought  it  for  an 
axe  and  then  returned 
down  the  river  to  the 
KING  LOUIS  xiv  waiting  ships. 

Finally  he  decided  to  leave  his  colony  at  a 
place  which  he  called  Biloxi.  It  was  not  a  very 
good  locatipn,  as  he  afterwards  found  ;  but  here 
he  built  a  fort,  left  two  of  his  brothers  in  com- 
mand, and  went  back  to  France  for  more  colo- 
nists and  more  supplies.  While  he  was  gone,  his 
younger  brother,  Bienville,  made  various  explor- 
ing expeditions.  One  day  when  he  was  out  in  a 
small  boat  on  the  Mississippi,  he  met  a  ship 
coming  up  the  river.  It  was  commanded  by 
Captain  Barr  of  the  English  navy.  He  had 


PIERRE   D  IBERVILLE  99 

been  sent  out  to  make  explorations  and  a  settle- 
ment. "  You  can't  settle  here,"  said  Bienville. 
"  All  this  region  is  now  a  part  of  Canada  and 
belongs  to  the  French  king.  We  have  a  colony 
here  as  you  must  know,  else  I  would  not  be  on 
the  river  in  so  small  a  boat." 

The  Englishman  courteously  turned  his  vessel 
about  and  sailed  back  into  the  Gulf,  and  this  is 
why  a  bend  in  the  river  is  now  known  as  the 
English  Turn. 

One  day  a  visitor  surprised  the  colonists  at 
Biloxi.  It  was  Father  Devion,  an  heroic  Jesuit 
priest  who  had  long  been  a  missionary  to  the 
Indians  of  that  region.  His  knowledge  of  the 
natives  and  of  the  country  proved  to  be  a  great 
help  to  the  settlers. 

Father  Devion  had  first  worked  among  a  tribe 
of  Indians  called  the  Tuniias.  He  had  labored 
with  them  long  and  faithfully,  but  still  they 
seemed  to  be  as  fond  of  their  idols  as  at  first. 
Father  Devion  therefore  burned  their  temple 
and  broke  in  pieces  their  carved  idol.  The  In- 
dians were  very  angry  ;  but  they  had  learned  to 
love  the  good  priest,  though  they  had  not  learned 
to  love  his  religion.  Instead  of  killing  him,  as 
would  have  been  expected,  they  turned  him  out 
of  their  country.  He  then  went  to  another  tribe 
and  there  had  better  success. 


100 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


In  the  forest,  behind  a  great  oak,  he  built  a 
tiny  chapel.  Inside  the  chapel  was  the  altar, 
but  Father  Devion's  pulpit  was  fastened  to  the 

trunk  of  a  tree. 
Herein  the  open 
air  he  preached 
to  his  Indian 
congregation. 
The  people  be- 
lieved that  he 
must  be  more 
than  man  ;  for, 
said  they,  "  No 
man  could  eat 
so  little  and 
live,  and  no  man 
could  know  so 
much  that  was 
happening  so  far 
away."  The  sick 
scarcely  needed 
to  send  for  him  :  he  was  with  them  before  they 
called.  He  was  a  companion  of  all  the  children 
and  a  help  to  any  one  in  distress.  Even  after 
his  death  he  was  long  remembered,  and  Indian 
mothers  used  to  carry  their  children  to  the  old 
chapel  in  the  woods  in  the  hope  that  Father 
Devion,  though  dead,  still  could  bless  them. 


TERRITORY    SETTLED   BY   THE   FRENCH 


PIERRE   D'lBERVILLE  IOI 

The  next  winter  Iberville  returned  and  imme- 
diately set  about  improving  the  condition  of  the 
colonists  and  pushing  forward  new  explorations. 
One  company  was  sent  to  seek  for  copper  mines. 
Another  was  ordered  to  build  a  fortification  on 
the  Mississippi.  While  work  on  this  fort  was 
going  forward,  a  canoe  came  down  the  river.  In 
it  was  one  white  man  with  a  number  of  Indian 
warriors.  It  was  "  Tonti  of  the  Iron  Hand." 
Again  he  had  heard  that  a  colony  of  French- 
men were  on  the  lower  Mississippi,  and  again 
he  had  made  the  long  journey  to  welcome  and 
aid  them. 

When  Tonti  returned,  Iberville  went  with 
him  up  the  river,  and  smoked  the  peace-pipe 
with  the  Indian  tribes.  At  one  place  they  were 
met  by  "The  Great  Sun  "  of  the  Natchez  tribe 
and  a  large  company  of  "  little  suns."  This  In- 
dian nation  kept  a  fire  burning  continually  in 
their  temple,  and  before  this  fire  the  first  animals 
killed  on  a  hunting  trip  were  always  offered. 
They  believed  that  the  souls  of  warriors  who 
had  been  successful  in  battle  went  to  live  in  the 
land  of  buffaloes,  where  in  great  happiness  they 
hunted  forever.  All  those  who  had  never  taken 
any  scalps  went  to  the  country  of  the  lakes, 
where  there  were  only  alligators  and  fish. 

After  saying  good-bye  to  Tonti,  Iberville  went 


IO2 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


back  to  Biloxi  and  soon  after  returned  to  France. 
When  he  next  came  to  Louisiana,  he  found  the 
colony  in  great  distress.  The  yellow  fever  had 
attacked  them.  Many  had  died,  and  among 
them  one  of  his  brothers,  the  governor  of  the 

colony.  Iberville 
decided  that  the 
situation  of  Biloxi 
was  unhealthful. 
He  removed  the 
colony  to  Mobile 
and  so  began  the 
settlement  of  Ala- 
bama. 

Iberville  himself 
was  sick  with  fever. 
He  left  the  fort  in 
the  care  of  Bien- 
ville,  who  was  but 
twenty-two  years 
of  age,  and  sailed  away  never  to  return.  Bien- 
ville  afterwards  moved  the  colony  to  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  founded  the  city  of  New  Orleans. 
The  discouragements  were  many,  and  the  diffi- 
culties were  great,  but  Bienville  remained  by  the 
colony  until  he  was  ordered  back  to  France. 
He  had  then  been  in  Louisiana  nearly  forty-four 
years. 


HIENV1LLE,    GOVERNOR    OK    LOUISIANA 


CHAPTER    IX 

DANIEL   BOONE 
1735-1820 

TTNTIL  a  few  years  ago,  there  stood  on  the 
bank  of  Boone's  Creek  in  eastern  Ten- 
nessee, a  tree  on  whose 
smooth  bark  was  rudely 
carved,"  D.  Boon  cilled 
A  BAR  on  this  tree 
year  1760." 

Daniel  Boone  was  a 
famous  hunter.  He 
frequently  carved  his 
name  on  trees  and  re- 
corded the  killing  of 
bears  and  other  wild 
animals.  He  was  a 
brave  man  and  a  real  hero,  one  of  the  most 
noted  pioneers  of  the  Old  Northwest. 

His  father  and  grandfather  were  Quakers. 
His  grandfather,  George,  came  to  Pennsylvania 
from  England  in  the  year  1717.  George's  son 
Squire  was  the  father  of  Daniel,  who  was  born 


104  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

in  the  valley  of  the  Schuylkill,  Pennsylvania,  in 
November,  1735. 

When  he  was  sixteen  years  of  age  he  made 
his  first  pioneer  move  with  his  father's  family, 
more  than  five  hundred  miles  from  Pennsylvania 
into  North  Carolina.  The  women  and  the  chil- 


FORDING  THE  POTOMAC  ON  THE  WAY  TO  THE  NORTHWEST 

dren  rode  in  their  rude  covered  wagons,  and  the 
men  and  the  boys  on  horseback,  some  in  the 
front  making  ready  the  path,  and  some  in  the 
rear  guarding  the  cattle.  The  herds  of  cattle 
followed  the  wagons,  and  those  on  horseback 
were  kept  constantly  alert  to  prevent  their  stray- 
ing off  into  the  forest  on  the  right  hand  or  the  left. 
They  forded  the  Potomac  at  Harper's  Ferry, 
and  then  wound  their  way  through  an  almost 


DANIEL  BOONE 


105 


unbroken  wilderness  the  entire  length  of  the 
beautiful  Shenandoah  Valley,  and  onward,  stead- 
ily advancing,  until  they  reached  the  valley  of 
the  Yadkin  (N.C.).  Here  they  made  their  home. 
They  built  cabins,  cut  down  trees,  and  cleared 
the  land  for  their  corn,  potatoes,  and  wheat. 
In  this  new  country  the  people  lived  a  primi- 


A  SETTLER'S  HUT  IN  THE  SHENANDOAH  VALLEY 

tive  life.  Their  houses  were  log  huts,  generally  of 
one  room,  and  a  loft  reached  by  a  ladder.  The 
floor  of  the  room  was  the  bare  ground.  At  its  rear 
end  a  capacious  fire-place  opened  from  the  big 
outside  chimney.  The  family  had  only  the  rud- 
est implements  for  cooking,  eating,  and  sleeping. 
For  a  long  time  their  best  bed  was  a  pile  of 
leaves  on  the  floor,  with  bear  skins  for  blankets. 


106  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

The  dress  of  Daniel  Boone,  like  that  of  most 
of  the  pioneers,  consisted  of  a  long  hunting-shirt 
of  coarse  cloth  or  of  dressed  deerskin,  with 
trousers  and  leggings  of  the  same  material.  His 
feet  were  covered  with  moccasins  of  deerskin. 
From  his  belt  hung  powder-horn,  shot-pouch, 
tomahawk,  and  scalping-knife.  Generally  the 
men  wore  on  their  heads  a  coon-skin  cap  with 
bushy  tail,  but  Daniel  Boone  always  preferred  a 
hat. 

In  the  fall  of  1767,  with  a  few  companions, 
Boone  left  the  Yadkin  country  and,  crossing  the 
mountains,  sought  the  fertile  valleys  of  Ken- 
tucky.* The  party  hunted  for  furs  and  secured 
a  large  quantity  of  deer,  beaver,  and  otter  skins 
and  other  peltries,  worth  in  those  days  one  hun- 
dred dollars,  and  stored  them  in  their  camp.  In 
December  the  Indians  made  a  raid  on  the  camp 
and  plundered  everything. 

Still  these  hardy  pioneers  persevered,  and  in 
the  winter  of  1770  Boone  remained  there  alone 
for  three  months.  He  spent  his  time  in  camp 
and  on  hunting  expeditions,  with  no  compan- 
ions, and  without  bread,  salt,  or  sugar.  At 
length,  in  September,  1773,  more  than  a  half- 
century  after  his  grandfather  had  come  to  this 
country,  and  almost  half  as  long  since  he  had 

*  See  map,  page  129. 


DANIEL   BOONE 


107 


made  his  home  on  the  Yadkin,  Daniel  Boone, 
his  family,  and  a  company  of  friends  pushed 
across  the  mountains  through  Cumberland  Gap 


PIONEERS    ACCOSTED    BY    INDIANS 


and  made  the  first  permanent  settlement  in  Ken- 
tucky, at  Harrodsburg. 

From  this  time    onward,  the  number  of  set- 
tlers in    Kentucky   rapidly  increased,   although 


108  AMERICAN    PIONEERS 

the  frequent  invasions  and  attacks  of  the  Indians 
from  beyond  the  Ohio  came  near  blotting  out 
all  the  settlements.  Without  previous  notice  or 
suspicion,  a  band  of  Indians  would  surround  a 
cornfield  where  the  men  were  at  work  ;  or  a  rifle 
shot  or  a  war-whoop  would  awake  the  settlers  in 
the  small  hours  of  the  night.  They  were  kept 
on  the  watch  at  all  times,  and  their  rifles  were 
always  within  reach.  It  seems  strange  that  men 
would  expose  themselves  and  their  families  to 
such  constant  dangers,  but  trees  were  continually 
being  cut  down  and  new  clearings  made  in  the 
old  hunting  grounds  of  the  Indians. 

Almost  everything  that  the  pioneers  had  to 
eat  or  to  wear  must  be  raised  in  the  clearings  or 
found  in  the  forests.  Salt  was  one  of  the  neces- 
sities that  could  not  be  bought.  It  was  obtained 
at  the  salt  springs  which  were  scattered  here 
and  there  in  various  parts  of  the  country.  Long 
before  the  white  men  or  even  the  red  men  knew 
of  these  springs,  they  were  known  by  the  wild 
animals.  At  certain  seasons  of  the  year  they 
would  come  in  droves  to  them  and  lick  up  the 
salt.  Therefore  the  settlers  called  the  springs 
Salt  Licks. 

One  January,  Boone  and  thirty  men  went  to 
the  Lower  Blue  Licks  to  make  salt  for  the  set- 
tlers. They  continued  for  a  time  in  peace,  one 


DANIEL   BOONE  109 

half  working  and  the  other  half  watching  for 
Indians  or  gathering  food.  They  had  sent  on 
pack-horses  to  Boonesborough  a  considerable 
quantity  of  salt,  when  their  work  was  suddenly 
cut  short. 

It  happened  that  one  day  Boone  left  the  salt 
camp  to  hunt  buffalo  and  beaver.  When,  to- 
wards evening,  in  the  midst  of  a  blinding  snow- 
storm, he  was  returning  with  his  horse  well 
laden,  he  was  confronted  by  four  Shawnee  In- 
dians, who  sprang  suddenly  from  an  ambush  and 
took  him  prisoner.  They  hurried  him  to  their 
camp  a  few  miles  away,  where  he  found  more 
than  a  hundred  well-armed  Indians  under  com- 
mand of  their  chief,  Black  Fish. 

The  Indians  were  about  to  make  an  attack  on 
Boonesborough  and  proposed  that  Boone  should 
show  them  the  way.  As  a  stratagem,  he  induced 
the  men  at  the  salt  camp  to  surrender  them- 
selves prisoners.  This  was  to  bring  about  a 
delay  in  the  proposed  raid  upon  the  settlement. 
At  Boonesborough  there  were  about  sixty  men 
besides  women  and  children.  The  fort  was  only 
partly  built ;  and  if  an  attack  were  made  at  once, 
the  Indians  would  win  an  easy  victory. 

Boone  told  the  Indians  that  in  the  spring, 
when  the  weather  was  warmer,  they  would  all 
go  together  to  Boonesborough.  The  place  could 


110  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

then  be  captured  easily  and  the  prisoners  carried 
to  Detroit  to  get  the  promised  reward  from  Gov- 
ernor Hamilton.  This  occurred,  we  must  re- 
member, during  the  war  between  England  and 
the  Colonies  ;  and  so  it  was  that  the  British  gov- 
ernor had  offered  the  Indians  £20  for  every 
American  prisoner  they  should  bring  him. 

Boone's  proposition  appeared  reasonable,  and 
the  Indians  agreed  to  it.  So  Boone  succeeded 
in  delaying  their  attack  in  the  hope  that  his  peo- 
ple would  finish  the  fort  and  that  reinforcements 
might  come  from  Virginia. 

Week  after  week  Boone  and  his  companions 
remained  in  the  crowded  wigwams  of  the  savages. 
They  lived  upon  game,  corn,  hominy,  and  beans 
boiled  together  in  one  kettle  in  the  slovenly  In- 
dian manner.  The  smoky  huts  were  filthy  in 
the  extreme.  But  Boone  was  cheerful — whistled 
and  sang  at  his  work  and  seemed  to  be  con- 
tented. His  appearance  of  happiness  so  de- 
ceived the  Indians  that  they  guarded  him  less 
closely. 

About  the  middle  of  June  the  Indians  under 
Black  Fish,  who  had  adopted  Boone  as  his 
son,  gathered  a  force  of  four  hundred  braves 
near  the  Ohio  River.  Boonesborough  must  be 
warned !  So  Boone  was  all  the  more  eager  to 
escape.  One  day,  while  the  attention  of  the 


DANIEL   BOONE  III 

Indians  was  concentrated  upon  a  numerous 
flock  of  wild  turkeys,  came  his  long-sought 
opportunity.  He  slipped  away  unobserved ; 
and  in  four  days,  in  which  he  ate  but  one  meal, 
he.  reached  Boonesborough.  His  appearance 
was  like  that  of  one  who  had  risen  from  the 
dead.  He  had  been  gone  nearly  five  months, 
and  his  friends  had  given  up  all  hope  of  ever 
seeing  him  again. 

The  fort  was  not  even  then  in  a  state  of 
defence.  Under  Boone's  leadership,  however, 
the  palisades  were  finished,  the  gates  put  up, 
the  fortress  strengthened,  and  the  four  block- 
houses at  the  corners  of  the  enclosure  put  in 
order. 

It  was  not  till  September  that  the  assault  was 
made.  Then  fully  four  hundred  braves  with 
some  French  Canadians  appeared  before  the 
fort  and  demanded  its  surrender.  This  was  re- 
fused and  the  battle  began.  Then  followed  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  assaults  and  heroic  de- 
fences recorded  in  all  our  annals  of  Indian  war- 
fare. The  Indians  and  the  French  made  numer- 
ous unsuccessful  attempts  to  set  fire  to  the  fort 
and  the  houses ;  a  tunnel  under  the  stockade 
was  started  and  failed  ;  scaling  parties  were  re- 
pelled ;  while  in  sharpshooting  the  settlers 
excelled  their  besiegers. 


112 


AMERICAN    PIONEERS 


Foi  ten  days  and  nights  the  little  garrison  of 
at  out  forty  men,  with   the   help  of  the  women 


Front  an  old  print 


FORT   AT   BOONESBOROUGH 


and  the  children,  the  sick  and  the  disabled,  re- 
sisted this  trained  band  of  Indian  warriors  which 
outnumbered  them  ten  to  one.  Then  the  In- 


DANIEL   BOONE  113 

i  . 

jdians,  thoroughly  disheartened,  in  the  darkness 
.of  a  rainy  night 

"Folded  their  tents  like  the  Arabs, 
And  as  silently  stole' away." 

Boonesborough  was  saved,  thanks  to  its  hero, 
.Daniel  r  Boone.  Nearly  forty  Indians  had  lost 
their  lives,  and  a  much  larger  number  had  been 
wounded,  while  from  the  brave  little  garrison 
but  two  men  were  killed  and  four  wounded. 
Their  ammunition  had  been  nearly  exhausted, 
but  now  they  "  picked  up  a  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  pounds  of  bullets  flattened  against  the  sides 
of  their  fort." 

Years  afterwards,  as  is  reported,  Boone  said, 
"  Never  did  the  Indians  pursue  so  disastrous 
a  policy  as  when  they  captured  me  and  my  salt- 
boilers,  and  taught  us  what  we  did  not  know  be- 
fore, the  way  to  their  towns  and  the  geography 
of  their  country  ;  for  though  at  first  our  captivity 
was  considered  a  great  calamity  to  Kentucky,  it 
resulted  in  the  most  signal  blessing  to  the 
country." 

From  this  time  the  tide  of  emigration  to  Ken- 
tucky set  in  strongly,  and  after  the  close  of  the 
Revolution  the  population  still  more  rapidly 
increased.  In  1 776  Kentucky  was  made  a  county 
of  Virginia  ;  in  1790,  a  territory  ;  and  two  years 
later,  a  state. 

8 


1 14  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

Boone's  life  after  the  defence  of  Boonesborough 
was  quite  as  changeable  as  it  had  been  before. 
He  lived  in  various  parts  of  Kentucky  until  1 788, 
when  he  moved  with  his  family  to  a  place  called 
Point  Pleasant,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Great 
Kanawha.  Here  was  his  home  for  ten  years  or 


FLOATING    DOWN    THE    OHIO 


more,  till,  at  the  age  of  sixty-four,  he  again  be- 
came a  pioneer  and  with  his  wife,  children,  and 
grandchildren  took  up  his  march  for  the  far  dis- 
tant land  beyond  the  Mississippi  River.  In  nu- 
merous boats  these  nature-loving  people  floated 
down  the  Ohio  and  ascended  the  Mississippi 
to  the  town  of  St.  Louis.  In  St.  Charles  County, 
Missouri,  they  made  their  new  home. 


DANIEL  BOONE  115 

At  Cincinnati  Boone  was  asked  why,  at  his 
time  of  life,  he  had  left  the  comforts  of  a  home 
again  to  subject  himself  to  the  privations  of  the 
frontier.  "Too  crowded  !"  he  replied  with  feel- 
ing. "  I  want  more  elbow-room." 

After  he  was  seventy  years  old  he  could 
scarcely  be  expected  to  shoot  with  the  accuracy 
of  his  youth,  but  he  was  still  widely  celebrated 
as  a  trapper.  He  made  frequent  journeys  into 
the  western  wilderness  after  beaver-skins,  going 
even  as  far  as  the  present  state  of  Kansas ;  and 
once,  when  he  was  eighty  years  of  age,  he  made 
a  journey  to  the  great  game  fields  of  the  Yellow- 
stone. From  these  long  trips,  occupying  several 
months,  he  would  return  well  laden  with  valu- 
able skins. 

When  he  was  past  seventy-five  years  of  age, 
he  did  not  forget  that  he  had  left  unpaid  debts 
in  Kentucky.  So,  as  he  had  accumulated  con- 
siderable property,  he  made  a  trip  to  his  former 
home  and  paid  off  in  full  every  debt.  Then,  as 
he  turned  his  steps  once  more  towards  his  new 
home  in  Missouri,  he  had  the  satisfaction  of 
feeling  that  at  last  he  was  "  square  with  the 
world." 

The  closing  years  of  his  life  were  spent  with 
his  son  Nathan,  at  whose  home  he  died  Septem- 
ber 26th,  1820,  in  the  eighty-sixth  year  of  his  age. 


AMERICAN    PIONEERS 


It  may  seem  strange  that  a  man  who  through 
his  whole  life  had  been  so  exposed  to  hardships 
should  have  lived  to  such  a  good  old  age.  His 
open-air  life  must  in  a  great  measure  account  for 
this. 


CHAPTER    X 

SIMON  KENTON 
1755-1836 

/"T"VHE  pioneers  of  the  Atlantic  slope  had  a 
much  more  comfortable  time  than  the 
early  emigrants  who  crossed  the  Blue  Ridge 
and  the  Alleghany  Mountains  and  settled  Ken- 
tucky, Tennessee,  and  the  region  north  of  the 
Ohio  River.  The  settlers  of  the  country  then 
often  called  "  Kain-tuck'-ee  "  were  a  hardy  race. 
They  were  generally  rough  and  uncouth  in  their 
manners  and  often  knew  very  little  about  gram- 
mar or  books  of  any  kind.  But  they  were  brave 
men  who  bore  hardships  and  privations  without 
complaint. 

Daniel  Boone,  James  Harrod,  George  Rogers 
Clark,  George  Yeager,  and  Simon  Kenton  were 
prominent  among  the  pioneers  of  the  country 
south  of  the  Ohio.  Kenton  was  a  native  of 
Virginia  and  went  to  Kentucky  when  he  was 
about  eighteen  years  of  age.  From  that  time  till 
his  death,  sixty-three  years  afterwards  (1836), 
his  life  was  filled  with  the  most  thrilling  and 


n8 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


romantic    adventures,    sufferings,   tortures,    and 
escapes. 

He  had  heard  from  George  Yeager  glowing 
descriptions  of  the  "  wonderful  land  of  cane,  " 
lying  somewhere  south  of  the  Ohio.  This  land 
was  extremely  fertile,  the  climate  mild  and 

delightful  ;  and 
thousands  of  deer 
and  elk  were  scat- 
tered on  the  wide 
plains.  Kenton, 
Yeager,  and  Stra- 
dor,  three  inex- 
perienced young 
men,  resolved  to 
find  this  Eden  of 
the  New  World. 
Day  after  day  they 
floated  down  the 
Ohio  and  after 
many  hardships  and  disappointments  built  a 
fort  in  northern  Kentucky.  They  did  not  sup- 
pose that  there  were  at  that  time  any  other  white 
persons  in  the  region.  When  they  learned  that 
sometime  before,  Boone  had  come  from  North 
Carolina  into  Kentucky,  Kenton  left  his  own  fort 
and  joined  Boone.  They  became  fast  friends, 
and  their  lives  afterwards  ran  along  together. 


SIMON    KENTON 


SIMON    KENTON  119 

When  war  with  the  Indians  broke  out,  Lord 
Dunmore,  governor  of  Virginia,  appointed  Ken- 
ton  a  spy.  In  this  campaign  the  young  man 
displayed  great  courage,  sagacity,  and  endurance. 
At  one  time,  utterly  regardless  of  his  own  safety, 
he  saved  the  life  of  Boone  by  a  bold  stroke.  It 
happened  in  this  way  : 

At  an  early  hour  in  the  morning  a  few  Indians 
attacked  Boone's  fort. 
Kenton  and  one  other 
man  sallied  forth  and  re- 
turned their  fire.  Then 
Boone  and  ten  men  rushed 
out  to  drive  away  the  sav- 
ages. Forty  Indians  with 
a  fierce  war-whoop  sprang 
up  from  an  ambush,  and 
the  battle  was  instantly 

r  j  •    i  r>  LORD    DUNMORE 

herce  and  rapid.      Boone 

was  wounded  and  fell.  One  of  the  foremost 
Indians  with  an  exulting  yell  sprang  toward 
Boone  and  with  a  flourish  raised  his  hatchet  to 
strike  the  blow  which  would  rid  his  people  of 
their  greatest  foe.  Kenton,  quick  as  the  flash 
of  his  trusty  musket,  laid  the  Indian  low;  and, 
in  spite  of  the  shower  of  bullets  that  flew  thickly 
around  him,  picked  up  his  comrade  and,  darting 
past  them  all,  succeeded  in  carrying  his  burden 


120  AMERICAN    PIONEERS 

of  one  hundred  and  seventy  pounds  safely  within 
the  fort. 

"  Well,  Simon,"  said  Boone  to  him,  as  Kenton 
tenderly  laid  him  upon  the  floor,  "you  have 
behaved  yourself  like  a  man  to-day."  Not  long 
after,  when  Kenton  was  attacked  by  a  large 
number  of  savages,  Boone  with  his  party  sud- 
denly appeared  on  the  scene  and  rescued  his 
friend. 

At  one  time  Kenton  and  two  others  lay  all 
day  on  the  edge  of  a  cornfield,  watching  a  Shaw- 
nee  town.  During  the  night  they  walked  safely 
through  its  streets  and  lanes  and  ran  off  a  dozen 
or  more  horses  from  the  corral.  Later,  however, 
Kenton  was  captured  by  these  Indians.  He 
was  alone  in  the  forest  when  an  Indian  rode  up 
to  him,  extending  his  hand  and  saying,  "  Broder, 
broder."  Before  Kenton  could  defend  himself, 
the  Indian  threw  his  arms  around  him  and  pin- 
ioned him.  Then,  grasping  him  by  the  hair  of 
his  head,  he  shook  him  till  his  teeth  rattled  and 
his  head  swam.  The  other  Indians  now  came 
up  and  stripped  Kenton  of  his  clothing.  Then, 
niad.  with  uncontrollable  rage,  because  he  had 
stolen;  their  horses — as  well  they  might  be  :  who 
can  blame  "them? — -they  prepared  to  give  him 
the  most  degrading  punishment  known  to  the 
Indian  race.  This  was  a  severe  whipping  over 


SIMON   KENTON  121 

the  bare  back.  They  surrounded  their  victim 
and  fell  upon  him  all  at  once,  lashing  him  with- 
out mercy  over  the  head  and  shoulders  with  their 
tough  hickory  ramrods  and  with  equally  tough 
switches  from  the  beech  trees.  Meanwhile  they 
taunted  him  with  words  like  these  :  "  You  want 
Injun  hoss,  hey  ?  You  hoss-steal,  you  !" 

Then  they  bound  him  tightly  upon  the  back 
of  a  half-broken  colt.  When  this  was  thoroughly 
done,  they  struck  the  colt  and  set  up  a  hideous 
yell.  They  expected  that  the  animal  would  at 
once  dart  off  madly  through  the  thick  woods. 
Had  this  taken  place,  death  would  soon  have 
come  to  the  helpless  rider.  The  colt  thwarted 
their  purpose  by  making  a  few  springs  and  jumps 
in  and  near  the  path  and  then  returning  quietly 
and  taking  his  place  in  line  with  the  other  horses. 
The  Indians  with  their  ponies  took  up  their 
march  and  continued  it  the  rest  of  the  day. 
Then  Kenyon  was  again  subjected  to  the  most 
cruel  sufferings. 

For  an  entire  week  he  suffered  torture  after 
torture.  Beaten  by  any  one  who  chose  to  in- 
dulge in  the  pastime,  he  ran  the  gauntlet  from 
town  to  town.  He  was  bound  to  the  stake  ;  but 
the  thongs  were  cut,  and  he  was  saved  for  fur- 
ther suffering.  Once  he  made  a  vigorous  effort 
to  escape,  broke  away  and  ran  for  the  canebrake. 


122  AMERICAN    PIONEERS 

But  there  were  too  many  Indians.     He  was  soon 
surrounded  by  horsemen  and  retaken. 

It  was  then  decided  that  he  should  be  burned. 
Here  another  party  of  Indians  came  in,  and  one 
of  them  turned  upon  Kenton,  threw  him  to  the 
ground,  and,  pounding-  him  unmercifully,  cle- 


INDIANS    GLOATING    OVER    THEIR    PRISONERS 

manded  his  name.  "  Simon  Kenton,"  was  the 
reply.  His  assailant  stopped  beating  him  and 
gazed  into  his  haggard  face.  Then  he  lifted 
him  from  the  ground,  gave  him  a  friendly  em- 
brace, and  said,  "  Don't  you  remember  me, 
Kenton  ?  I  am  Simon  Girty." 

This   Girty  was   a   renegade  white   man    that 
had  turned  Indian.      He  afterwards  joined  the 


SIMON    KENTON  123 

British  and  fought  the  Americans  in  the  Revolu- 
tion. This  terrible  enemy  to  his  race  had  never 
been  known  to  show  any  mercy  to  a  white  pris- 
oner, but  now  he  became  strangely  compassion- 
ate. Telling  the  Indians  that  himself  and  the 
prisoner  had  been  early  friends,  he  made  an 
earnest  plea  for  his  release.  He  reminded  them 
that  he  had  never  before  asked  mercy  for  one 
of  his  own  race,  and  he  promised  that  if  they 
would  pardon  his  friend  he  would  be  faithful  to 
them  forever  and  never  ask  favor  of  them  again. 

For  a  time  at  least  Kenton  was  saved.  Under 
the  tender  care  of  Girty  he  rapidly  recovered, 
but  a  number  of  Indians  from  the  villages  further 
north  came  and  demanded  vengeance.  Another 
council  was  held.  Girty  again  and  again  made 
most  earnest  pleas  for  his  friend's  life,  but  the 
tide  was  against  him.  At  last,  convinced  that 
he  could  not  save  him,  Girty  turned  to  Kenton 
and  said,  "  Well,  my  friend,  you  must  die,"  and 
at  once  left  the  council-house. 

The  Indians  now  resolved  to  take  Kenton  to 
one  of  their  villages  known  as  Waccotomica. 
When  they  started  on  their  journey,  almost  all 
the  people  of  the  vicinity  joined  the  company. 
Girty,  on  horseback,  soon  overtook  them  and 
told  Kenton  that  he  had  many  friends  at  Wac- 
cotomica, and  that  he  would  go  in  advance  and 


124  AMERICAN    PIONEERS 

try  once  more  to  save  him.  It  was  all  in  vain. 
So  Girty  left  the  town,  that  he  might  not  wit- 
ness the  horrible  end  that  he  had  tried  so  hard 
to  prevent.  Girty  was  a  traitor,  a  renegade,  a 
man  of  evil  deeds;  but  this  is  one  bright  spot  in 
the  dark  picture  of  his  life. 

Again,  as  they  entered  the  town,  Kenton  was 


subjected  to  the  brutal  lashings  of  the  Indians. 
Just  as  his  trial  was  going  on  in  the  council-house 
and  he  was  standing  at  the  door,  who  should 
confront  him  but  the  noted  Indian  chief,  Logan. 

"Well,  young  man,"  said  Logan,  "these  men 
seem  to  be  very  mad  at  you." 

"Yes,  sir,  they  certainly  are." 

"  Well,  don't  be  down-hearted.  They  will  send 
you  to  Sandusky,  and  I  have  sent  off  two  run- 
ners to  take  your  part." 


SIMON   KENTON  1 25 

Even  Logan's  influence  was  not  strong  enough 
to  save  him.  But  just  here  came  another  turn 
of  fortune's  wheel.  A  trader  named  Druyer 
appeared  and,  admiring  Kenton's  bearing  and 
pitying  his  sad  case,  resolved  to  save  him, 
if  possible,  from  being  burned  at  the  stake. 
These  Indians  were  at  that  time  allied  with  the 
British,  and  the  British  headquarters  were  at 
Detroit.  Druyer  told  the  chiefs  that  the  gov- 
ernor of  Detroit  was  then  preparing  an  expedi- 
tion against  Kentucky  and  wanted  correct  infor- 
mation regarding  the  condition  of  the  settle- 
ments there.  Therefore  he  asked  the  chiefs  to 
allow  him  to  take  Kenton  to  Detroit.  He  prom- 
ised to  bring  him  back  as  soon  as  he  had  given 
the  governor  the  information  sought. 

To  this  the  Indians  finally  consented.  Druyer 
took  Kenton  to  Detroit  and  delivered  him  over 
to  the  British  officers.  Here  he  stayed  until 
he  was  over  the  effects  of  the  terrible  beatings 
he  had  received.  Then  his  love  of  freedom  and 
his  longing  to  see  his  friends  once  more  induced 
him  to  make  another  break  for  liberty. 

With  ten  other  prisoners  he  set  out  to  return 
to  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio.  The  journey  took  him, 
by  a  round-about  way,  fully  five  hundred  miles 
through  a  wilderness  swarming  with  hostile  In- 
dians. In  spite  of  all  the  difficulties,  he  sue- 


126 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


ceeded  in  reaching  his  friends.  What  surprise, 
what  rejoicing  there  was  when  he  appeared  ! 
He  had  long  ago  been  given  up  as  dead. 

Such  were  the  hardships,  fightings,  and  suffer- 
ings of  the  brave  pioneers  who  first  settled  the 
present  state  of  Kentucky.  It  is  well  for  us,  in 
these  later  days  of  peace  and  plenty,  to  study 
now  and  then  the  perils  of  those  who  first 
brought  civilized  life  to  the  fertile  valleys  of  the 
Ohio  and  the  Mississippi. 


Indian  weapons 


CHAPTER   XI 

GEORGE   ROGERS  CLARK 
1752-1818 

'""INHERE  were  dreadful  days  in  Kentucky 
during  the  first  years  of  the  American 
Revolution.  The  English  had  possession  of  all 
ihe  old  French  settlements  north  of  the  Ohio 
River.  They  urged  on  the  red  men  to  make 
attacks  in  Kentucky  and  offered  rewards  to 
those  who  would  kill  the  most  people.  Indians 
seemed  to  hide  behind  every  stump  and  in  every 
hollow.  It  was  hardly  safe  for  a  man  to  ride 
out  into  the  forest  or  for  a  woman  to  walk 
across  the  clearing  from  the  house  to  the  stable. 
The  white  men  followed  the  plans  of  the  red 
men.  Taking  their  rifles  in  their  hands  and  a 
few  days'  provisions  on  their  backs,  they  would 
cross  over  into  the  enemy's  country  to  plunder 
and  kill.  Such  retaliation  did  more  to  continue 
the  horrors  than  to  stop  them.  The  Indians 
learned  to  respect  the  marvelous  skill  of  the 
Kentuckians  in  using  their  rifles  or  "  big  knives," 
but  their  hate  grew  with  their  respect. 


128 


AMERICAN    PIONEERS 


Finally  a  young  Virginian,  George  Rogers 
Clark,  thought  of  a  way  to  end  the  warfare. 
His  plan  was  this  :  to  march  with  a  company  of 
men  into  the  enemy's  country  and  capture  the 
old  French  villages  of  Kaskaskia  and  Vincennes. 
If  he  could  do  this,  he  would  accomplish  two 

things.  He  would 
put  a  stop  to  the  In- 
dian expeditions,  be- 
cause their  guns  and 
ammunition  and 
hatchets  were  sup- 
plied at  these  forts. 
He  would  also  win 
the  country  north  of 
the  Ohio  River  for 
the  Americans.  It 
was  a  bold  and  dar- 
ing plan,  but  Clark 
was  a  man  who  did  not  know  the  meaning  of 
fear. 

His  difficulties  began  almost  at  the  beginning, 
He  realized  that  even  the  fearless  Kentucky 
frontiersmen  would  hesitate  to  enlist  for  such  an 
expedition.  The  journey  would  be  a  thousand 
miles  to  Kaskaskia  and  back  ;  all  the  Indian 
tribes  were  hostile  ;  the  French  might  be  also ; 
and  no  one  knew  how  many  companies  of 


GEORGE   ROGERS    CLARK 


GEORGE  ROGERC  CLARK 


I29 


English  soldiers  might  be  at  the  forts.  Clark 
was  well  on  his  way  before  he  told  his  men 
where  they  were  really  going.  A  number  im- 
mediately deserted,  and  less  than  two  hundred 
embarked  in  the  boats  for  the  journey  down  the 
Ohio.  But  Clark  would  not  let  even  the  small- 


—  4—- 1 s —        — •"« n « 

S  0  at)  100         150         200  MlLES-  -1-1-  \.   . 


BOONE'S   TRAIL  (1775)   AND   CLARK'S   CAMPAIGN  (l 778-9) 

ness  of  his  force  discourage  him.  He  knew 
that  skill  and  courage  and  quickness  could  ac- 
complish more  than  numbers. 

It  was  necessary  to  proceed  rapidly  if  they 
were  to  reach  Kaskaskia  before  the  news  of 
their  coming.  The  boats  were  rowed,  two  men 
at  each  oar,  night  and  day  for  four  days.  Then 
instead  of  going  round  by  way  of  the  Missis- 


130  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

sippi,  which  would  have  been  the  easiest  route, 
Clark  landed  his  men  and  took  up  his  march 
through  the  forest.  When  he  reached  Kaskas- 
kia,  he  found  that  not  a  whisper  of  his  under- 
taking had  preceded  him.  An  American  who 
happened  to  be  in  the  village  opened  the  gates 
for  the  invaders.  One  company  followed  alight 
that  shone  from  a  window.  It  was  in  the  house 
occupied  by  the  governor  who  was  fast  asleep  in 
his  bed.  The  captain  entered,  put  his  hand  on 
the  man's  shoulder,  awakened  him,  and  told  him 
that  he  was  a  prisoner. 

The  story  is  told  that  the  garrison  and  the 
villagers  were  having  a  merrymaking  that  night, 
and  that  Clark  entered  the  hall  where  the  young 
men  and  women  were  dancing.  No  one  paid 
any  attention  to  him  as  with  folded  arms  he 
stood  leaning  against  a  doorway.  Finally  an 
Indian  who  had  been  lying  on  the  floor  rolled 
over  and  recognized  him.  He  sprang  up  with  a 
war-whoop,  and  instantly  the  fun  ceased.  Clark 
quietly  told  them  to  go  on  with  their  dancing, 
only  to  remember  that  they  danced  under  the 
American  rule  and  not  under  the  British. 

Whether  this  story  is  true  or  not,  it  shows  how 
completely  Kaskaskia  was  surprised.  The 
French  were  terribly  frightened.  They  had 
heard  so  many  stories  of  the  fierce  "  big  knives," 


GEORGE   ROGERS   CLARK  13! 

that  they  expected  to  be  put  to  death  in  the 
most  barbarous  fashion.  Trembling  with  fear 
the  men  came  to  Clark  and  begged  him  to  save 
their  wives  and  children.  They  offered  to  give 
anything  and  to  do  anything,  even  to  be  sold  as 
slaves,  if  he  would  have  mercy. 

Clark  replied  that  he  had  come  to  Kaskaskia 
not  to  make  slaves,  but  to  make  free  men.  He 
did  not  come  to  kill  women  and  children,  but  to 
put  an  end  to  the  destruction  of  women  and 
children  in  Kentucky. 

The  French  listened  at  first  with  astonish- 
ment, then  with  joy.  Their  sad  faces  grew 
bright  and  brighter  as  they  understood  the 
meaning  of  Clark's  words,  and  they  hurried  off 
to  their  homes  to  tell  the  wonderful  news.  Then 
laughter  and  singing  took  the  place  of  sobs  and 
sighs.  The  houses  were  thrown  open ;  the 
streets  were  decorated  ;  many  colored  pavilions 
were  built ;  and  processions  were  formed  to  show 
their  joy. 

When  the  French  learned  that  Clark  was 
planning  to  march  to  Vincennes  and  the  other 
forts,  they  told  him  that  there  was  no  need  of 
that.  There  were  only  a  few  English  soldiers  at 
the  forts.  The  Frenchmen  at  Vincennes  would 
be  just  as  glad  to  get  rid  of  their  English  mas- 
ters as  they  at  Kaskaskia  had  been.  They 


132  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

would  send  some  of  their  own  men  to  tell  their 
brothers  the  joyful  news.  Colonel  Clark  con- 
sented to  their  plan,  though  he  did  not  forget  to 
send  a  spy  along  with  the  delegation  to  see  that 
they  remained  true  to  their  promise.  The  French- 
men were  honest,  and  thus  without  bloodshed  the 
forts  came  into  the  hands  of  the  Americans. 

Up  in  Canada  it  was  with  anything  but  pleas- 
ure that  the  English  heard  of  Clark's  successes. 
An  expedition  was  immediately  sent  out  under 
General  Hamilton  to  retake  the  forts  and  cap- 
ture Colonel  Clark.  Hamilton  marched  first  to 
Vincennes.  There  were  only  a  few  Americans 
at  the  fort — Captain  Helm,  the  commander,  and 
one  or  two  others.  Of  course  Helm  had  no 
hope  of  holding  the  fort  against  such  a  superior 
force,  but  he  would  not  surrender  without  an  ap- 
pearance of  defense.  He  loaded  a  cannon  and 
placed  it  in  the  gateway  of  the  fort.  When  the 
English  came  near,  he  stood  by  with  a  lighted 
torch  in  his  hand. 

"  Halt  !."  he  cried  in  a  loud  voice. 

Hamilton  stopped  his  army  and  demanded  the 
surrender  of  the  fort. 

"  No  one  shall  enter  until  I  know  the  terms," 
Captain  Helm  replied. 

"  You  shall  have  the  honors  of  war,"  said 
Hamilton. 


GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK 


133 


Helm  then  surrendered.  General  Hamilton 
was  naturally  provoked  at  the  trick  that  had  been 
played.  Helm  was  kept  a  close  prisoner,  but 
was  kindly  treated  ;  for  he  was  a  merry  man, 
and  Hamilton  found  him  good  company. 

It  was  now  winter  time,  and  the   English  de- 


CAI'TAIN    HELM    SURRENDERING    FORT    VINCENNES    TO    THE    ENGLISH 

cicled  to  wait  for  spring  before  capturing  Kas- 
kaskia  and  George  Rogers  Clark.  But  Colonel 
Clark  was  neither  idle  nor  waiting  for  spring. 
Through  a  Spanish  friend,  Captain  Vigo,  of  St. 
Louis,  he  had  learned  that  many  of  the  English 
soldiers  had  been  sent  back  to  Canada.  Vigo 
had  been  captured  near  Vincennes  and  had  been 


134  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

kept  a  prisoner  for  some  time.  Finally  General 
Hamilton  allowed  him  to  go  free  if  he  would 
promise  not  to  do  anything  on  his  way  to  St. 
Louis  that  would  harm  the  British  cause.  Cap- 
tain Vigo  readily  made  the  promise  and  hurried 
home.  But  he  remained  in  St.  Louis  only  long 
enough  to  change  his  clothes  and  get  a  new 
stock  of  provisions.  Then  he  went  as  fast  as  his 
boat  could  go  to  Kaskaskia. 

Colonel  Clark  said,  "  If  I  do  not  capture  Gen- 
eral Hamilton,  General  Hamilton  will  capture 
me."  He  got  together  a  force  of  one  hundred 
and  seventy  men.  Part  of  them  were  his  own 
Kentuckians,  every  man  of  whom  he  could  trust 
as  he  could  trust  himself.  The  rest  were  French 
volunteers,  and  he  was  not  sure  of  a  single  one. 
They  set  out  the  first  week  of  February  on  what 
was  to  be  one  of  the  hardest  marches  ever 
known. 

When  the  snows  are  melting  and  the  rivers 
have  overflowed  their  banks,  travel  is  very  diffi- 
cult in  southern  Illinois  and  Indiana.  Even  at 
the  present  day,  when  roads  have  been  made  and 
bridges  built,  it  is  bad  enough.  One  hundred 
and  twenty-five  years  ago,  when  there  were  no 
roads  and  no  bridges,  the  country  was  almost 
impassable.  The  mud  was  deep  everywhere, 
and  much  of  the  way  the  ground  was  covered 


GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK  135 

with  water.  Frequently  it  reached  to  the  knee, 
oftentimes  to  the  waist,  and  sometimes  even  to 
the  breast.  Through  this  half-frozen  water  and 
through  this  mud  these  one  hundred  and  seventy 
men  marched  the  two  hundred  and  forty  miles 
to  Vincennes. 

If  Clark  had  not  always  led  the  way,  if  he  had 
not  known  just  how  to  keep  up  the  spirits  of  the 
men,  if  he  had  shown  the  slightest  sign  of  dis- 
couragement, they  never  would  have  reached 
their  destination.  When  the  way  was  hard, 
Clark  would  start  a  favorite  song.  At  night  he 
always  had  some  kind  of  feast  or  dance,  to  take 
away  the  memories  of  the  hardships  of  the  day. 
He  was  everywhere,  cheering,  encouraging,  urg- 
ing, and  usually  the  men  responded. 

But  one  morning  they  refused  to  go  on.  The 
night  before  had  been  cold,  and  the  water  had 
frozen  over.  Colonel  Clark  urged  and  threat- 
ened, but  the  men  would  not  move.  In 
one  of  the  companies  was  a  little  drummer 
boy.  He  was  called  the  "  little  antic  drummer 
boy,"  because  he  was  so  full  of  tricks  and  mis- 
chief. In  the  same  company  was  a  big  sergeant, 
tall  and  broad  and  strong.  Clark  placed  the 
drummer  boy  on  the  shoulders  of  the  sergeant 
and  told  them  to  lead  the  way.  They  plunged 
into  the  ice  and  water,  the  drummer  merrily 


136 


AMERICAN    PIONEERS 


beating  the  charge.  Clark  waving  his  sword 
above  his  head  and  shouting  "  Forward! "  fol- 

o 

lowed.  They  had  to  break  the  ice  before  them 
with  their  hands,  but  the  men  forgot  their  ill 
temper  and  went  on.  After  that  each  day  was 
worse  than  the  day  before,  and  the  last  day  was 


THE   SERGEANT   AND   THE   DRUMMER    BOY 

the  worst  day  of  all.  They  arrived  before  Vin- 
cennes  thoroughly  exhausted,  but  their  coming 
was  a  complete  surprise.  General  Hamilton 
was  having  a  game  of  cards  with  Captain  Helm 
when  the  shots  began  rattling  around  the  chim- 
ney. Helm  jumped  up  crying,  "Clark  has 
come!" 


GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK  137 

The  Captain  kindly  warned  the  English  sol- 
diers to  keep  away  from  the  port-holes.  "  Clark's 
men,"  said  he,  "  will  shoot  your  eyes  out."  The 
British  did  not  believe  that  they  could  be  injured 
by  rifle-shots  at  such  a  distance  ;  but  they  did 
not  know  that  the  Kentuckians  had  trained  them- 
selves not  to  m.iss  at  that  distance  a  mark  the 
size  of  a  silver  dollar,  and  that  a  port-hole  would 
be  a  large  target  for  them. 

General  Hamilton  was  forced  to  surrender, 
though  he  had  cannon  and  ammunition,  and 
Clark  had  only  his  rifles.  The  English  were 
fresh  and  wrell  fed,  while  the  Americans  were 
tired  out  and  nearly  starved.  The  English  flag 
was  hauled  down  ;  and  Vincennes  came  into  the 
possession  of  the  Americans,  never  to  be  lost 


again. 

o 


How  many  men  suffered  all  their  lives  because 
of  the  hardships  of  their  early  days,  no  one  will 
ever  know.  Their  self-sacrifice  and  endurance 
should  be  a  matter  of  pride  to  all  Americans ; 
and  we  should  honor  the  memory  of  such  pio- 
neers as  these  Kentuckians  and  of  such  a  leader 
as  George  Rogers  Clark. 


CHAPTER  XII 

RUFUS    PUTNAM 
1738-1824 

13  UFUS  PUTNAM  was  one  of  the  many 
Americans  who  have  accomplished  great 
ends  simply  through  unflinching  determination 
to  be  and  to  do  something.  He  was  born  in 
Sutton,  Massachusetts,  and  when  he  was  only 
seven  years  old  his  father  died.  Two  years  after, 
his  mother  married  Captain  Sadler,  an  inn- 
keeper. Rufus's  new  father  was  a  very  ignorant 
man,  who  not  only  cared  nothing  for  books  or 
knowledge  of  any  kind  for  himself,  but  did  not 
want  others  to  care  for  these  things  either.  So 
Rufus  was  not  sent  to  school  or  given  any  books  ; 
and  if  in  some  way  he  obtained  one,  he  was  not 
allowed  to  use  it.  His  stepfather  laughed  at  all 
his  efforts  ;  but  this  did  not  lessen  his  determi- 
nation to  increase  his  knowledge. 

Sometimes  Rufus  was  given  pennies  for  doing 
jobs  for  the  guests  of  his  father's  inn.  These 
he  saved  and  with  them  bought  powder  and 
shot  for  an  old  gun  he  had.  Then,  in  his  spare 


RUFUS   PUTNAM 


139 


minutes,  he  went  hunting  for  partridges  ;  and 
with  the  money  he  got  from  their  sale,  he  bought 
a  spelling-book  and  an  arithmetic.  But  he  found 
little  time  to  use  them  ;  for  his  days  were  well 
filled,  and  in  the  evening  after  his  work  was  done 
he  was  not  allowed 
to  use  a  candle. 
After  he  was  nine 
years  old,  he  went 
to  school  only  three 
weeks  ;  but  he  was 
so  determined  not 
to  grow  up  in  ig- 
norance, that  he 
was  able  to  get  a 
fair  knowledge  of 
arithmetic  and  ge- 
ography. In  his 
later  life  he  was 
sorry  that  he  had 
not  paid  more  at- 
tention to  grammar  and  writing,  but  he  was 
his  own  teacher  and  "  knew  not  where  to  begin 
or  what  course  to  pursue." 

By  the  time  he  was  eighteen  years  old,  Rufus 
was  as  large  and  as  strong  as  a  man.  He  was 
nearly  six  feet  tall  and  had  broad  shoulders  and 
long,  powerful  limbs.  He  could  endure  great 


RUFUS    PUTNAM 


140 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


hardships  without  being  wearied  and  could  hold 
his  own  in  any  encounter  that  required  strength 
and  muscle.  So  it  was  not  surprising  that  when 
war  broke  out  between  the  French  and  English 
colonies  in  America,  he  became  a  soldier,  and 
that  he  served  all  through  that  long  struggle. 
After  the  war  closed,  he  went  back  to  his  home 

at  Rutland,  Massa- 
chusetts, where  the 
old  house  is  still  stand- 
ing. But  whether  he 
was  tilling  his  farm 
or  building  mills  or 
hunting  in  the  forests, 
h(!  was  always  learning 
something  new  or  try- 
ing to  make  more  use- 
ful the  knowledge  he 
already  had. 

He  had  become  an 
expert  land-surveyor  and  at  the  time  that  he 
left  his  trade  and  his  family  and  joined  the  Revo- 
lutionary Army  he  was  already  well  known  in 
his  profession.  General  Washington  soon  found 
that  in  one  of  the  first  regiments  that  had  en- 
listed after  the  battle  of  Lexington,  there  was  a 
very  valuable  man.  That  man  was  Putnam,  and 
he  was  set  to  work  laying  out  camps  and  throw- 


GEORGE    WASHINGTON 


RUFUS   PUTNAM  14! 

ing  up  fortifications  around  Boston.  So  success- 
ful was  he  that  Washington  wrote  to  the  Con- 
tinental Congress  that  the  man  who  had  educated 
himself  without  the  aid  of  schools  and  teachers 
was  of  more  value  than  the  French  officers  in  the 
army  who  had  been  under  military  training  all 
their  lives.  Putnam  was  promoted  to  the  rank 
of  chief  engineer  and  later  to  that  of  general. 

When  the  war  was  over  and  America  was  free, 
and  soldiers  and  officers  went  back  to  their 
homes,  some  found  that  their  farms  were  not 
so  valuable  as  they  had  been  before  the  war, 
six  or  seven  years  past.  The  women  and  the 
boys  had  done  the  best  they  could  ;  but  weeds 
had  overrun  the  grain  fields,  and  the  cattle  had 
died  or  had  been  taken  to  feed  the  army.  Some 
who  had  had  trades  found  that  their  places  had 
been  taken  by  others. 

The  soldiers  had  been  paid  for  all  their  hard 
years  of  suffering  in  promises  and  not  in  money, 
and  promises  go  but  a  little  way  in  restocking 
farms  and  setting  up  trades.  There  seemed  no 
chance  for  these  men  in  their  old  homes.  Many 
began  to  wish  that  they  could  go  to  some  new 
place  where  people  were  not  so  numerous  and 
where  they  could  make  new  homes  for  themselves 
and  their  families.  General  Putnam  took  up 
the  cause  of  his  discouraged  fellow-soldiers  and 


142  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

helped  to  obtain  land  for  them  in  the  great  coun- 
try beyond  the  mountains  and  north  of  the  Ohio 
River,  where  few  white  men  had  ever  been. 

One  December  day  a  company  of  carpenters 
and  mechanics  set  out  from  Danvers,  Massachu- 
setts, for  the  West.  It  was  their  plan  to  go  to 
the  upper  part  of  the  Ohio  River  and  there  build 
a  boat  which  should  carry  the  settlers  down  the 
river.  The  next  month  a  larger  company  set 
out.  January  seems  a  strange  time  to  start  on  a 
long  journey  overland  in  those  days.  We  must 
remember  that  there  were  no  steamboats  and 
no  railroad  trains.  The  whole  distance  must  be 
traveled  in  slow-going  wagons,  on  horseback,  or 
on  foot.  There  were  mountains  to  be  crossed 
and  roads  to  be  broken.  It  would  take  many 
weeks  to  go  from  Boston  to  Pittsburg.  Why 
did  they  not  start  in  the  spring  when  traveling 
would  be  easier  ?  Because  they  wanted  to  reach 
their  new  homes  in  time  for  the  spring  planting. 
Then  they  would  have  food  to  keep  them  through 
the  next  winter. 

The  travelers  met  .with  many  difficulties.  In 
the  mountains  the  snow  was  so  deep  that  the 
horses  could  not  pull  the  wagons  through  it. 
Sleds  were  built,  and  all  the  baggage  was  un- 
packed and  packed  over  again  on  the  sleds. 
Even  then  the  horses  could  not  make  a  way,  and 


RUFUS    PUTNAM  143 

the  men  had  to  go  before  and  dig  out  the  road. 
When  they  reached  the  river,  they  were  disap- 
pointed to  find  the  boat  unfinished.  The  weather 
had  been  so  cold  that  the  carpenters  had  made 
little  progress.  In  time,  however,  everything 
was  ready  ;  and  the  strange,  clumsy  craft  swung 
out  into  the  stream  and  floated  down  with  the 
current.  The  hopes  of  the  travelers  rose  as  they 
went  on.  The  weather  grew  warm  and  spring- 
like. The  grass  became  green,  and  the  trees  put 
out  their  leaves.  Everything  seemed  to  grow 
larger  and  more  abundant  than  back  in  stony  New 
England,  and  the  country  looked  very  fair  indeed. 

On  the  seventh  day  of  April,  1788,  the  May- 
flower, as  the  boat  was  called,  drew  up  heneath 
little  Fort  Harmer  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mus- 
kingum  River.  The  guns  of  the  fort  fired  a 
salute,  and  the  officers  and  soldiers  gave  the 
settlers  a  hearty  welcome.  The  men  jumped 
ashore  with  their  axes  in  their  hands,  and  imme- 
diately their  strokes  rang  out  in  the  clear  air. 

On  this  day  was  begun  the  town  of  Marietta, 
the  first  permanent  settlement  in  what  was  to  be 
the  great  state  of  Ohio.  Yet  it  was  not  the 
first ;  for  when  General  Putnam  began  to  lay 
out  the  streets  of  the  town  and  divide  up  the 
land  for  farms,  he  found  that  s'omebody  had  been 
there  before  them.  Everywhere  were  scattered 


144  AMERICAN    PIONEERS 

great  mounds  and  high  embankments.  Some 
seemed  to  have  been  used  for  burial  places,  some 
for  fortifications.  Who  built  them  ?  Not  the 
Indians  ;  for  Indians  never  built  anything  more 
permanent  than  bark  wigwams  or  log-houses. 


From  a  ph.otogra.ph 

THE    MARIETTA    MOUND    AS    IT    LOOKS    TO-DAY 

When  were  they  built  ?  The  forest  covered  them. 
Some  of  the  trees  when  cut  were  found  to  be 
hundreds  of  years  old.  The  Indians  said  that 
the  mounds  had  been  built  long  ago  by  people 
who  had  come  from  the  West.  Where  they 
went  and  why  they  went,  the  Indians  could  not 
say  ;  and  no  one  has  ever  been  able  to  tell. 

On  the  top  of  the  highest  mound  General 
Putnam  built  a  fort  large  enough  to  hold  all  the 
colonists  and  strong  enough  to  protect  them 


RUFUS   PUTNAM  145 

from  the  Indians.  Around  it  the  settlers  built 
their  cabins.  Soon  fields  were  cleared  and 
planted.  The  corn  grew  rapidly  in  the  rich, 
black  soil.  Stories  of  its  growth  were  taken 
back  to  the  East  by  every  stray  traveler.  "It 
grew  nine  inches  in  twenty-four  hours,"  wrote 
one  settler.  Another,  who  went  back  for  his 
family,  said  to  his  neighbor,  "  Why  will  you 
waste  your  time  cultivating  such  land  as  this  ? 
Out  in  the  West  we  have  to  stand  on  tip-toe  to 
break  off  an  ear  of  corn  ;  while  here  you  have 
to  stoop  down."  And  still  another,  a  grave 
doctor  of  divinity,  wrote,  "  I  would  as  soon  get 
lost  in  it  on  a  cloudy  day  as  in  a  cedar  swamp." 

Of  course  people  were  wild  to  go  to  the  new 
land.  They  came  in  all  sorts  of  boats,  by  the 
hundreds  and  by  the  thousands.  We  must  not 
suppose  that  there  were  no  difficulties,  and  that 
every  year  even  in  Ohio  was  a  good  year.  There 
came  a  starving  time  when  the  settlers  lived  on 
roots  and  herbs  and  "  the  children  cried  for 
bread."  An  early  frost  had  destroyed  the  crops, 
and  the  Indians  had  driven  off  the  deer. 

Much  suffering  would  have  followed  if  it  had 
not  been  for  the  kindness  and  the  generosity  of 
a  Mr.  Williams,  who  had  a  plantation  across  the 
Ohio  River  in  western  Virginia.  He  had  har- 
vested his  large  crop  early,  and  it  had  not  been 


K) 


146 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


touched  by  the  frost.  Nowhere  else  could  corn 
be  bought  for  less  than  a  dollar  and  a  half  a 
bushel.  Williams  sold  it  for  fifty  cents  to  all 
who  came.  If  any  were  too  poor  to  buy,  he  let 
them  have  corn  just  the  same  ;  but  nobody  how- 
ever rich  could  have  a  large  quantity  at  one 
time.  Men  who  wanted  to  help  themselves  at 


FORT    WASHINGTON,    THE    BEGINNING    OF    CINCINNATI 

the  expense  of  the  poor  and  suffering  tried  to 
buy  up  his  entire  stock.  They  offered  a  large 
price  for  it.  "  No,"  said  Williams,  "you  shall  not 
have  a  single  bushel." 

There  was  another  man  to  whom  the  early 
settlers  of  Ohio  owed  a  great  deal.  H  is  name  was 
John  Chapman,  but  he  was  more  commonly  called 
"Johnnie  Appleseed."  He  was  a  peculiar  man 


RUFUS   PUTNAM 


147 


who  always  went  barefoot  in  summer  and  wore 
a  broad-brimmed  pasteboard  hat  to  keep  off  the 
sun.  He  never  carried  a  gun  and  never  took  the 
life  of  any  creature.  Alone  he  had  set  out  on  the 
banks  of  the  rivers  little  apple  orchards.  He 
fenced  them  in  with  brush,  and  year  after  year 
pruned  and  cared  for  them.  As  settlers  came 
to  the  new  country,  they  found  here  and  there 


A    MIDNIGHT    ESCAPE   TO    THE    FORT 

orchards  waiting  for  them.  Johnnie  Appleseed 
was  loved  by  everybody,  white  man  and  red 
alike ;  and  within  recent  years  a  monument 
has  been  erected  to  his  memory  at  Mansfield, 
Ohio. 

But  there  was  trouble  ahead  worse  than  famine. 
The  Indians  had  been  watching  with  jealous  eyes 
the  forests  fall  and  the  corn  grow.  The  region 
north  of  the  Ohio  had  been  their  hunting  ground, 
and  they  had  said  that  no  white  man  should  ever 
plant  corn  in  Ohio.  Now  they  said,  "  Before 


148 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


the  trees  shall  again  put  forth  their  leaves,  there 
shall  not  remain  the  smoke  of  a  single  white 
man's  cabin  west  of  the  river." 

General  Putnam  gathered  the  families  of  Mari- 
etta within  the  fort.  Men  who  had  keen  eye- 
sight and  knew  how  to  read  all  the  signs  of  the 


THE    OHIO    RIVER    ABOUT    1850 
Near  Maysville,  Kentucky 

forests  were  selected  to  range  the  woods  and 
watch  for  the  first  appearance  of  a  red  man. 
One  Sunday,  when  everybody  \vas  at  church, 
one  of  these  rangers  suddenly  appeared  at  the 
door.  The  word  "  Indians  !  "  was  enough.  The 
roll  of  the  drum  sounded,  the  minister  stopped 
his  sermon  ;  the  men  seized  their  guns,  which 
were  close  at  their  sides  ;  the  women  and  the 


RUFUS   PUTNAM  149 

children  hurried  to  the  shelter  of  the  fort.  The 
quiet  of  the  Sabbath  Day  was  broken  by  the 
sound  of  arms  and  the  quick  word  of  command. 
All  was  bustle  and  commotion.  Fortunately, 
this  time  it  was  only  a  false  alarm  ;  but  it  was 
not  always  so. 

Later,  houses  were  burned  and  plundered, 
women  and  children  were  killed,  and  fierce  bat- 
tles were  fought.  Finally  the  Indians  were  com- 
pletely defeated,  and  there  was  peace  once  more 
in  Ohio.  Then  again  settlers  came  over  the 
mountains  from  the  East.  Settlements  were 
started  which  grew  into  towns  and  then  into 
great  cities.  Comfortable  houses  took  the  place 
of  rude  cabins,  and  Ohio  grew  to  be  rich  and 
prosperous. 

In  its  troubles  and  in  its  prosperity,  General 
Putnam  was  ever  a  safe  guide.  He  was  always 
ready  to  give  his  assistance  and  his  counsel. 
He  helped  to  found  schools  and  colleges  ;  he 
built  churches  and  never  refused  to  aid  any  good 
cause.  Many  men,  perhaps  of  greater  ability 
than  he,  have  since  his  time  guided  the  affairs 
of  the  State  ;  but  Rufus  Putnam  will  ever  be 
lovingly  known  as  the  Father  of  Ohio. 


CHAPTER    XIII 


i 


WILLIAM    CLARK 

1770-1838 

N  Caroline  County,  Virginia,  just  before  the 
breaking  out  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  was 

born  a   child   who 
became 
pioneer, 


a  famous 
first     in 

Kentucky  and  af- 
terwards in  Mis- 
souri. His  name 
was  William  Clark ; 
and  he  was  a 
younger  brother 
of  George  Rogers 
Clark,  of  whom  we 
have  heard  in  a 
previous  chapter. 
They  were  the 
sons  of  a  sturdy 
and  honest  couple, 
John  and  Ann  Rogers  Clark.  In  their  home  were 
ten  children,  four  girls  and  six  boys.  Four  of 


WILLIAM   CLARK  151 

these  boys  distinguished  themselves  in  the  Rev- 
olution. William  was  the  youngest  of  the  six 
and  too  small  to  be  a  soldier  then  ;  but  later 
on,  there  came  plenty  of  opportunities  for  the 
little  red-headed 
brother  to  serve 
his  country  faith- 
fully. 

When  he  was 
fourteen  years  old, 
his  father  moved 
the  family  to  Ken- 
tucky. Their  new 
home  was  just 
south  of  Louisville, 
and  they  named 
it  Mulberry  Hill. 
Here  then  William 
Clark  grew  to  man- 
hood. In  those 
days  there  was  plenty  of  game  in  Kentucky — 
buffalo,  deer,  and  bear.  William  was  a  famous 
hunter  and  excelled  the  Indians  themselves  in 
imitating  the  bark  of  the  wolf,  the  hoot  of  the 
owl,  and  the  whistle  of  the  whip-poor-will.  At 
an  early  age  he  became  acquainted  with  the 
methods  of  Indian  warfare.  He  was  scarcely 
eighteen  when  he  was  appointed  ensign  in  the 


152  AMERICAN    PIONEERS 

army,  and  four  years  later  he  was  made  lieu- 
tenant. 

William  Clark  and  Meriwether  Lewis  had 
been  boys  together  in  Virginia  and  had  become 
close  friends.  Lewis  was  private  secretary  to 
President  Jefferson  ;  and  in  1803,  at  the  request 
of  the  President,  he  was  appointed  by  Congress 
to  command  an  exploring  expedition  across  the 
continent  to*  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Jefferson  told 
him  that  he  could  choose  his  own. lieutenant,  and 
he  at  once  named  his  friend,  William  Clark. 
The  party  under  Captain  Lewis  and  his  lieu- 
tenant was  made  up  of  nine  young  men  from 
Kentucky,  fourteen  soldiers,  and  several  other 
persons.  The  military  leader  of  the  expedition 
was  really  Clark,  and  his  knowledge  of  Indian 
life  had  much  influence  upon  its  success. 

In  the  spring  of  1804  the  expedition  set  out 
from  St.  Louis.  The  whole  town  turned  out  to 
see  them  off.  As  the  boats  pushed  away  from 
the  bank  the  fort  fired  a  salute  and  the  people 
cheered  and  waved  their  handkerchiefs.  When 
they  had  glided  out  of  sight,  the  townspeople 
turned  to  their  homes  prophesying  that  they 
would  never  return.  Their  fears  were  not 
strange,  for  the  country  to  be  explored  was  then 
entirely  unknown.  In  most  portions  of  it  no 
white  man  had  ever  been.  No  one  knew  what 


WILLIAM    CLARK 


153 


mountain  ranges  were  there,  what  lakes,  rivers, 
or  Indian  tribes.  The  Missouri  brought  down  a 
great  volume  of  water  from  somewhere;  but  where 
it  came  from,  no 
one  knew. 

There  were  no 
railroads  in  those 
days  and  no  mails 
in  that  part  of 
the  country.  One 
year  went  by  ;  two 
years  ;  and  still  no 
news  of  the  ex- 
plorers had  been 
brought  in  by  wan- 
dering hunters. 
The  people  of  St. 
Louis  and  Presi- 
dent Jefferson  him- 
self began  to  fear 
that  the  party  had 

been  either  lost  Or    LEWiS  IN  THE  COSTUME  OF  A  WESTERN 

killed    by  the    In-  SCOUT 

dians.  Then  one  day,  at  the  end  of  twenty-eight 
months,  some  boats  were  sighted  coming  down 
the  Missouri  River.  They  were  the  boats  of  Lewis 
and  Clark.  The  good  news  traveled  fast,  and  the 
people  turned  out  to  give  them  a  hearty  welcome. 


154  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

In  those  twenty-eight  months  Lewis  and  Clark 
had  crossed  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  the  Pacific 
and  returned.  They  had  been  most  fortunate 
all  the  way.  Adventures  and  narrow  escapes 
they  had  had,  to  be  sure,  but  only  one  of  their 
men  had  died  and  only  one  had  attempted  to 
desert.  They  had  gathered  great  store  of  in- 
formation about  the  country  for  the  use  of  the 
white  settlers  that  followed  in  their  track,  and 
the  knowledge  that  Clark  gained  of  the  charac- 
ter and  habits  of  the  Indians  made  a  difference 
in  the  whole  after-history  of  the  territory  and 
state  of  Missouri. 

William  Clark  now  settled  in  St.  Louis.  Con- 
gress made  him  brigadier-general  for  upper 
Louisiana,  and  President  Madison  appointed 
him  governor  of  Missouri  Territory,  an  office 
which  he  held  for  eight  years,  until  Missouri 
became  a  state.  After  that  he  was,  until  his 
death,  superintendent  of  Indian  affairs  west  of 
the  Mississippi. 

Let  us  now  see  what  were  the  conditions  in 
St.  Louis  one  hundred  years  ago.  Just  before 
Lewis  and  Clark  started  out  on  their  long  jour- 
ney, the  whole  vast  territory  of  Louisiana  was 
sold  to  the  United  States  by  Napoleon  Bona- 
parte. It  extended  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to 
the  present  boundaries  of  Canada  and  from  the 


WILLIAM   CLARK 


155 


Mississippi    to    the   Rocky  Mountains.     People 
complained  that  President  Jefferson   had  gone 


^> 


x-v,  ,-55^  *Nr*r* 

NX^         ^W/W 
J^T       A        OAU*.      A 


MAP    SHOWING    GROWTH    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES    WEST    OF    THE 
MISSISSIPPI 

beyond  the  powers  given  him  by  the  Constitu- 
tion, and  they  made  all  sorts  of  doleful  prophesies 
of  the  disasters  that  would  come  to  the  country 
because  of  the  Louisiana  purchase.  Of  course 


156  AMERICAN    PIONEERS 

these  prophecies  never  came  to  pass,  and  the 
whole  country  is  now  very  glad  that  President 
Jefferson  was  far-sighted  enough  to  dare  to 
stretch  his  authority  "  until  it  cracked,"  as  he 
said. 

This  great  territory  was  too  large  to  be  man- 
aged by  one  governor.  It  was  divided  into  two 
parts.  The  southern  had  its  capital  at  New 
Orleans,  and  the  northern  at  St.  Louis.  St. 
Louis  was  at  that  time  a  little  village  of  less  than 
one  thousand  inhabitants.  It  had  just  two  long 
streets,  and  one  of  these  was  known  as  the 
"  Street  of  Barns."  There  were  one  hundred 
and  eighty  houses,  mostly  built  of  logs  or  stones. 
It  was  said  that  St.  Louis  merchants  kept  a  large 
stock  of  goods  ;  but  a  store  was  only  one  room 
in  a  dwelling-house,  and  the  stock  of  goods  was 
often'not  so  large  that  it  could  not  be  conven- 
iently kept  in  a  chest.  Sugar  sold  for  two  dol- 
lars a  pound,  and  coffee  brought  the  same  price. 

St.  Louis  had  no  post  office  until  two  years 
after  Lewis  and  Clark  returned  from  the  far 
West,  and  even  then  it  took  six  weeks  to  carry 
a  letter  to  the  Atlantic  coast.  Before  the  post 
office  was  established,  letters  were  usually 
brought  in  by  the  merchants  when  they  returned 
from  their  shopping  down  the  river.  They 
stuck  them  up  in  their  windows,  where  they 


WILLIAM   CLARK  157 

stayed  until  the  owners  called  for  them.  It  was 
1817  before  the  first  steamboat  came  up  the 
Mississippi. 

One  hundred  years  ago  St.  Louis  was  a  far- 
away pioneer  town.  What  changes  it  has  seen  in 
these  one  hundred  years  !  To-day  it  is  a  city  of 
half  a  million  people,  with  great  manufactories 
and  immense  commercial  interests.  It  is  an 
important  railroad  center,  and  there  are  twenty- 
eight  miles  of  wharves  along  the  river  banks. 

General  Clark  had  no  easy  task  to  keep  the 
peace  in  and  around  St.  Louis.  The  greatest 
body  of  Indians  in  the  whole  country  was  to  be 
found  near  the  Mississippi  River.  In  Missouri 
hostile  Indians,  horse-thieves,  criminals  of  all 
sorts,  kept  the  pioneer  settlers  constantly  on  the 
watch.  While  the  men  were  working  in  the 
fields,  sentinels  had  to  be  kept  on  guard.  *  The 
little  children  could  not  play  outside  the  forts, 
and  no  one  felt  secure  by  night  or  by  day.  It 
is  a  wonder  that  the  white  pioneers  were  not  al- 
together massacred  and  wiped  out.  Their  safety 
was  due  in  a  large  measure  to  the  skill  and  the 
wisdom  of  General  Clark.  He  succeeded  in 
smoothing  out  the  difficulties  and  making  peace 
between  the  red  men  and  the  white. 

Never  was  a  man  more  wise  than  Clark  in  all 
his  dealings  with  the  Indians.  They  came  to 


158  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

• 

trust  him  as  they  trusted  no  other  white  man. 
"The  Red  Headed  Chief,"  as  the  Indians  called 
him,  was  loved  by  all  the  tribes  from  the  Mis- 
sissippi River  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  They  feared 
him,  too,  because  he  knew  their  character  so 
well  that  he  was  often  able  to  foresee  their 
plans  and  was  always  prepared  for  any  outbreak. 


From  an  old  print 

THE    CITY    OF    WASHINGTON    IN    1825 

Once,  after  an  Indian  war,  he  decided  to  give 
the  tribes  an  object  lesson.  He  thought  that  if 
the  Indians  could  see  how  great  and  powerful 
the  United  States  really  was,  they  would  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  it  would  be  useless  for 
them  to  go  on  the  war-path  every  little  while 
against  the  rapidly  increasing  settlements.  So 
he  summoned  to  St.  Louis  the  chiefs  of  a  half- 


WILLIAM    CLARK  159 

dozen  tribes.  When  they  had  gathered  together, 
he  advised  them  first  of  all  to  make  peace  with 
one  another.  They  followed  his  counsel  and 
buried  the  hatchet  with  great  ceremony.  Then 
he  took  them  to  the  city  of  Washington, — at 
that  time,  only  a  small  town  of  scattered  build- 
ings,—where  they  had  an  interview  with  Presi- 
dent Madison  and  made  a  treaty  with  him. 
They  saw  all  the  sights  of  the  capital,  visited 
other  cities  in  the  East,  and  then  returned  to 
St.  Louis.  The  journey  accomplished  all  that 
General  Clark  had  hoped  :  they  never  dug  up 
the  hatchet  they  had  buried,  but  always  kept 
the  peace  with  one  another. 

One  of  the  nations  that  entered  into  this 
peace  compact  was  the  Osage.  When  Lewis 
and  Clark  were  on  their  exploring  expedition, 
the  Indians  told  them  an  interesting  legend 
of  the  origin  of  their  nation.  Long  years  ago  a 
snail  lived  on  the  bank  of  the  Osage  River.  He 
was  satisfied  with  his  quiet  life  and  had  no  de- 
sire to  change  it.  But  a  great  flood  came,  and 
the  snail  was  carried  by  the  rushing  waters  into 
the  Missouri.  When  the  river  went  down,  he 
fourid  himself  on  the  bank  of  a  stream  in  a  far 
warmer  country  than  that  he  had  left.  The  hot 
rays  of  the  sun  had  a  peculiar  effect  upon  his 
body.  It  grew  larger  and  larger,  until  at  last 


l6o  AMERICAN    PIONEERS 

he  discovered  that  he  was   no  longer  a  snail  but 
a  man. 

Still  he  did  not  forget  his  old  home  on  the 
bank  of  the  Osage  River.  He  started  back  on 
his  long  journey,  but  soon  grew  hungry.  The 
food  that  was  suitable  for  a  snail  did  not  sat- 


From  an  old  print 

A    MISSOURI    VILLAGE   IN    1840 

isfy  him  now  that  he  was  a  man,  and  he  did  not 
know  what  he  wanted  nor  how  to  get  it.  For- 
tunately the  Great  Spirit  made  his  appearance 
and  showed  him  how  to  kill  and  to  cook  deer, 
and  how  to  make  the  skin  into  clothes.  He  no 
longer  suffered  from  cold  and  hunger.  His 
limbs  grew  strong,  and  he  made  good  progress. 

When  he  reached  his  old  home,  a  new  trouble 
came  to  him.  A  beaver  met  him  and  demanded 
what  he  was  doing  in  his  territory.  He  replied 


WILLIAM    CLARK  l6l 

that  that  land  was  as  much  his  as  the  beaver's, 
for  he  had  once  lived  on  the  banks  of  the  river. 
While  they  were  loudly  and  furiously  discussing 
the  question,  the  beaver's  daughter  came  along. 
She  was  young  and  beautiful,  and  the  man  said 
that  he  would  live  at  peace  with  the  beaver  if  he 
would  give  him  his  daughter  for  a  wife.  The 
beaver  consented  to  this  plan  ;  the  two  were 
married  and  became  the  parents  of  the  Osage 
nation. 

When  Clark  had  grown  too  feeble  to  go  out 
among  the  Indian  tribes,  they  came  to  St.  Louis 
to  visit  him.  They  brought  their  families  with 
them  and  camped  on  the  banks  of  the  river. 
General  Clark  received  them  in  his  council 
chamber  where  were  hung  all  the  curiosities  that 
he  had  gathered  in  his  long  dealings  with  the 
Indians.  Here  he  heard  their  complaints,  set- 
tled their  disputes  and  advised  them  in  all  their 
difficulties.  While  they  were  in  St.  Louis,  he 
gave  them  their  food  ;  but  they  always  cooked 
it  themselves  at  their  camp.  In  the  morning 
after  breakfast  the  chiefs  would  dress  in  their 
best  garments  and  parade  through  the  streets 
singing  and  dancing.  They  would  call  at  house 
after  house  and  ask  for  money.  If  they  received 
it,  they  would  sing  and  dance  again  ;  but  if  their 
requests  were  denied,  they  would  wrap  their 


1 62 


AMERICAN    PIONEERS 


blankets  around  them  and  sullenly  stride  away. 
Every  summer  they  returned,  so  long  as  General 
Clark  lived.  When  he  died,  St.  Louis  saw  its 
picturesque  visitors  no  more. 

Clark's   death    occurred    on   the   first    day  of 


From  an  engraving  oj 1840 

ST.    LOUIS    ABOUT    THE   TIME    OF    CLARK'S    DEATH 

September,  1838.  He  was  not  a  very  old  man, 
being  only  one  month  over  sixty-eight  years  of 
age.  He  had  said  to  his  son,  "I  want  to  sleep 
in  sight  and  sound  of  the  Mississippi."  His 
request  was  granted.  His  grave  is  in  the  city 
which  for  so  many  years  had  been  his  home 
and  not  far  from  the  banks  of  the  "  Father  of 
Waters." 


CHAPTER    XIV 

DAVID   CROCKETT 
1786-1836 

A  MONG  the  pioneers  who  found  their  way 
over  the  mountains  from  the  colony  on 
the  Yadkin  River  into  Tennessee  was  a  tall,  raw- 
boned,  resolute  man 
of  Irish  birth.  His 
name  was  Crockett, 
and  he  had  been  a 
brave  soldier  in  the 
Revolutionary  War. 
He  made  his  new 
home  in  the  hamlet 
called  Limestone,  in 
Greene  County,  not 
far  from  the  Caro-  DAVID 

lina  line.      Here,  our  hero,  David  Crockett,  was 
born  in  the  year  1 786. 

In  his  boyhood  David  knew  little  but  hard- 
ship. His  entire  school  life  was  less  than  six 
months,  and  that  was  when  he  had  grown  almost 
to  manhood.  He  learned  to  read  and  to  write 


164  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

and  but  little  else.  When  he  was  ten  years  of  age 
his  father  hired  him  out  to  a  Dutchman  who  had 
made  his  home  far  away  in  the  wild,  unsettled 
interior,  four  hundred  miles  to  the  westward. 
With  his  employer  young  David  traveled  on 
foot  this  long  distance.  After  a  month  or  two 
he  was  so  homesick  in  the  wilderness,  with  no 
friend  near  him,  that  he  slipped  away,  and  alone 
made  his  way  back  again  over  the  four  hundred 
miles  to  his  father's  house. 

What  a  journey  for  a  boy  of  only  twelve  years ! 
Think  of  it.  His  long  trip  with  his  employer 
from  his  father's  house  through  the  wilderness 
must  have  been  difficult  and  hazardous  enough ; 
but  for  him,  boy  as  he  was,  to  retrace  his  steps 
through  that  long  stretch  of  unbroken  wilder- 
ness, in  constant  danger  from  wild  beasts  and 
Indians,  with  rivers  to  cross,  food  to  procure 
and  cook — all  this  required  a  courage  far  from 
common  in  a  boy  of  twelve  years  of  age. 

David  was  always  loyal  to  his  family,  and  a 
charming  story  is  told  of  his  dutiful  conduct 
towards  his  parents.  When  he  was  nearly  seven- 
teen years  of  age,  he  worked  a  whole  year  to 
pay  a  note  for  seventy-six  dollars  which  was  held 
against  his  father,  who  was  unable  to  meet  it. 

Through  his  entire  life,  David  Crockett  was  a 
pioneer.  After  coming  to  manhood  he  made  his 


DAVID   CROCKETT  165 

first  home  on  the  Elk  River  in  Lincoln  County, 
Tennessee,  on  the  border  of  Alabama.  After- 
wards, when  settlers  began  to  gather  around  him, 
he  pushed  further  west  and  built  his  cabin  in 
"  one  of  the  wildest  parts  of  the  State."  He  did 
not  remain  long  even  here.  As  the  country 
filled  up  he  moved  further  west  and  pitched  his 
tent  on  Shoal  Creek  in  Lawrence  County,  "  in 
a  wild  and  desolate  region."  Here  the  settlers 
soon  organized  a  local  government  and  appointed 
Crockett  a  magistrate.  From  this  time  he  rose 
rapidly  and  before  long  acquired  a  wide  reputa- 
tion. 

First  of  all  our  hero  was  a  famous  hunter.  He 
knew  the  haunts  of  the  wild  animals  and  could 
always  find  game.  He  was  a  sure  marksman  ; 
and  so  accurate  was  his  aim  and  so  well  known 
was  his  success  as  a  hunter  that  the  story  became 
current  that  once  on  a  time  when  he  had  taken 
aim  at  an  opossum,  the  "  varmint  "  called  out  to 
him,  "  Don't  shoot,  Colonel,  don't  shoot.  I'll 
come  down." 

The  opossum  called  him  "  Colonel ",  because 
the  people  had  made  him  colonel  of  the  militia. 
He  was  repeatedly  elected  a  member  of  the  State 
legislature,  where  he  did  good  service  and  won 
golden  opinions  from  his  fellow  law-makers. 

Crockett   had    by    diligence    and    hard   labor 


l66  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

acquired  some  property.  He  now  built  a  dam 
across  Shoal  Creek  and  put  up  a  mill,  which  soon 
after  was  swept  away  by  fire.  He  gave  up  all 
that  he  had  and  paid  his  debts  to  the  last  cent. 
One  who  knew  him  well  said,  "  He  was  a  great 
exemplar  of  fortitude  in  disaster,  cheerfulness  in 
misfortune,  and  honesty  in  his  dealings.  The 
loss  of  his  property  in  Lawrence  County  tested 
his  honesty.  He  gave  up  after  that  disaster 
all  he  possessed  for  the  benefit  of  his  credit- 
ors and  began  the  fight  over  again  with  cheer- 
fulness and  hopefulness." 

He  now  made  another  move  toward  the  sun- 
setting.  He  built  his  new  home  on  the  Albion 
River  near  the  western  boundary  of  the  State. 
Thus  in  four  counties,  beginning  on  the  eastern 
borders  and  pushing  westward  almost  to  the 
Mississippi  River,  he  had  been  a  pioneer  in  the 
new  land  of  Tennessee. 

After  he  had  served  the  people  in  the  State 
legislature,  he  had  the  idea  that  he  should  yet 
be  a  member  of  Congress.  It  is  said  that  he 

o 

traveled  on  foot  from  his  home  in  southern  Ten- 
nessee to  Washington  to  see  what  Congress  was 
like.  We  must  not  forget  that  he  had  almost 
no  school  education.  He  could  read  and  write 
and  could  speak  in  public  in  a  crude,  backwoods 
fashion.  He  had  seen  much,  traveled  somewhat, 


DAVID    CROCKETT 


16; 


observed  everything  within  his  reach,  and  drawn 
his  own  conclusions.  He  was  full  of  oddities 
and  eccentricities,  but  withal  he  was  by  no  means 


DANIEL  WEBSTER   SPEAKING  IN  THE  SENATE 

lacking  in  "  large,  round-about  common  sense." 

The  story  goes  that  the  very  next  day  after 

his  arrival  in   Washington,    Mr.   Webster,    the 


1 68  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

great  orator  from  Massachusetts,  made  one  of 
his  famous  speeches  in  the  Senate.  In  the  even- 
ing, at  a  reception,  Colonel  Crockett  was  intro- 
duced to  Mr.  Webster,  when  the  following  con- 
versation ensued  : 

44  Wahl,  Mr.  Webster,  I  hearedyour  speech  to- 
day, and  do  you  want  to  know  what  I  think  of 
ye?" 

"  Certainly,"  replied  Webster,  "  I  should  be 
pleased  to  know  what  so  distinguished  a  man  as 
Colonel  Crockett  thinks  of  my  humble  efforts." 

"Wahl,  Mr.  Webster,  I'll  tell  ye.  I  heared 
your  hull  speech.  I  stood  there,  a  leenin'  up 
agin  the  post,  and  I  heared  the  hull  on't,  for  two 
mortal  hours,  and  I  don't  think  you'r  what  you'r 
cracked  up  to  be."  Then  waiting  a  minute  he 
added,  "  for  there  wa-n't  a  word  in  it  that  I 
couldn't  understand." 

Afterwards  Crockett  was  elected  to  Congress 
and  served  three  terms.  We  are  told,  "  He  was 
popular  in  Washington  where  he  was  noted  not 
only  for  his  eccentricity  of  manner  and  speech, 
but  also  for  his  strong  common  sense  and  shrewd- 
ness." His  favorite  motto  was,  "  Be  sure  you 
are  right,  then  go  ahead" — a  very  good  motto  for 
us  all. 

In  May,  1830,  Colonel  Crockett  made  a  speech 
in  Congress  on  the  bill  for  the  "  Removal  of  the 


DAVID   CROCKETT 


169 


Indians  beyond  the  Mississippi."  He  stated  at 
the  outset  that  he  should  vote  against  the  bill, 
and  that  he  should  like  to  give  his  reasons  for 
the  vote  ;  that  he  did  not  know  that  any  man 
within  five  hundred  miles  of  the  place  where  he 


ROOM    IN    THE    NATIONAL     CAPITOL     USED     BY     THE    HOUSE    OF    REPRE- 
SENTATIVES   UNTIL    1859,    NOW    STATUARY    HALL 

lived  would  vote  as  he  should,  but  he  must  vote 
as  his  conscience  dictated.* 

He  said  :  "  I  have  my  constituents  to  settle 
with,  I  know,  and  I  should  like  as  well  as  any 
other  gentleman  to  please  them,  but  I  have  also 
a  settlement  to  make  at  the  bar  of  my  God. 

*  The  following  quotations  are  from  the  Congressional  Globe. 
Colonel  Crockett's  speech  was  revised  for  publication,  and  there- 
fore does  not  appear  in  its  original  backwoods  phrasing. 


I/O  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

What  my  conscience  dictates  to  be  just  and  right 
I  want  to  do,  be  the  consequences  what  they  may. 
...  I  must  vote  as  my  conscience  and  judg- 
ment dictate  without  the  yoke  of  any  party  on 
me,  or  the  driver  at  my  heels,  with  his  whip  in 
hand,  commanding  me  to  gee-haw-whoa,  just  at 
his  pleasure."  He  said  that  he  knew  personally 
many  Cherokees,  and  he  had  heard  them  say  : 
"  No,  we  will  take  death  here  at  our  homes. 
Let  them  come  and  tomahawk  us  here  at  home  : 
we  are  willing  to  die,  but  never  to  remove." 

He  then  stated  that  no  man  would  be  more 
willing  than  he  to  see  the  Indians  removed, 
if  it  could  be  done  in  a  manner  agreeable  to 

o 

themselves,  but  not  otherwise.  He  added  :  "  I 
care  not  for  popularity,  unless  it  can  be  obtained 
by  upright  means.  ...  I  have  been  told  that  I 
do  not  understand  English  grammar.  That  is 
very  true.  I  have  never  been  to  school  six 
months  in  my  life.  I  have  raised  myself  to  be 
what  I  am  by  the  labor  of  my  hands.  But  I  do 
not  on  that  account  yield  up  my  privilege  as  a 
representative  of  freemen  on  this  floor." 

Crockett's  vote  on  this  bill  helped  to  defeat 
him  for  re-election  in  the  fall  of  1830;  but  he 
was  elected  again  in  1832  and  served  another 
term,  when  he  was  again  defeated,  President 
Jackson's  influence  being  turned  against  him. 


DAVID   CROCKETT 


I/I 


Soon  after  this  he  migrated  to  Texas  and 
engaged  in  the  struggle  of  that  country  for  inde- 
pendence from  Mexico.  He  was  with  Colonel 
Travis  and  Colonel  Bowie  in  the  fatal  siege  of  the 
Alamo  (a'la-mo).  The  Alamo  was  a  strong  fort 
with  stout  walls  twenty  feet  high  and  covered 
two  or  three  acres  of  ground.  It  was  defended 


THE    ALAMO 


by  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  brave  Texans, 
and  the  besieging  army  numbered  fully  four 
thousand  Mexicans  under  command  of  the 
famous  General  Santa  Anna.  The  siege  lasted 
thirteen  days  when  a  desperate  assault  was  made, 
and  all  the  Texans  but  six  were  killed.  These 
six  men,  including  Colonels  Crockett  and  Travis, 
surrendered  to  their  overwhelming  foe ;  but, 


1/2  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

although  they  were  prisoners  of  war,  they  were 
shot  by  orders  from  Santa  Anna. 

Thus  perished  Colonel  Davi,d  Crockett,  one 
of  Tennessee's  bravest  and  most  distinguished 
sons.  One  who  was  personally  acquainted  with 
him  bore  this  testimony :  "  He  was  a  hero, 
statesman,  and  martyr,  who  was  in  life  the  peer 
of  any  unselfish  man  that  adorned  the  annals 
of  a  civilized  people.  He  was  a  favorite  of  all 
classes,  whether  rich  or  poor,  high  or  low,  Whigs 
or  Democrats,  dudes  in  the  city  or  hunters  in  the 
country." 


Railroad  Travel   in  Crockett's  Day 


CHAPTER    XV 

SAMUEL  HOUSTON 
1793-1863 

CAMUEL  HOUSTON  is  one  of  the  stran- 
gest and  one  of  the  most  interesting  charac- 
ters in  American  History.  His  life  was  full  of 
contradictions,  and  its  story  reads  like  a  tale  of 
the  imagination.  He  lived  the  life  of  an  Indian; 
yet  he  was  elected  the  president  of  the  Republic 
of  Texas  and  a  senator  of  the  United  States. 
He  was  a  roisterer  among  roisterers,  yet  he  be- 
came a  good  husband  and  a  kind  father.  He 
was  so  proud  that  his  enemies  claimed  that  he 
wrote  his  name  so  that  it  would  read  "  I  am 
Houston  ;"  yet  he  became  a  humble  Christian. 

Samuel  Houston,  or  "  Sam  Houston,"  as  he 
was  almost  always  called,  was  born  in  Virginia 
about  ten  years  after  the  close  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. His  father  died  when  he  was  thirteen 
years  old,  and  then  his  mother  moved  across  the 
mountains  into  the  wilderness  of  Tennessee. 
There  were  nine  children,  six  boys  and  three 
girls ;  and  all,  so  far  as  they  were  able,  were 


174  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

kept  busy  cutting  down  trees,  pulling  out  roots, 
and  planting  and  tilling  the  land.  However,  the 
life  of  a  boy  or  a  girl  even  in  the  wilderness  was 
not  all  hard  work.  There  were  schools  and 

academies,  and  a 
family  was  very 
poor  indeed  that 
did  not  send  its 
children  to  school 
for  a  few  weeks  in 
the  year. 

Samuel  was  a 
stubborn  lad.  Peo- 
ple used  to  say  that 
"Sam  Houston 
would  either  be  a 
great  Indian  chief, 
die  in  the  mad- 
house, or  be  gov- 
ernor  of  the  State, 
for  it  was  certain 
that  some  dreadful 
thing  would  overtake  him."  He  very  early 
developed  a  dislike  for  school.  Back  in  Vir- 
ginia during  his  father's  lifetime,  he  could  not 
be  induced  to  go  to  school  before  he  was 
eight  years  old.  Then,  after  he  once  began  to 
attend,  he  had  his  own  ideas  as  to  what  he 


SAMUEL   HOUSTON  175 

should  and  should  not  study.  Therefore,  since 
his  ideas  were  frequently  not  those  of  his  teach- 
ers, he  often  got  into  trouble.  At  one  time, 
while  attending  an  academy  in  Tennessee,  he 
decided  that  he  wanted  to  study  Latin  and 
Greek.  The  teacher  refused  to  teach  him.  Per- 
haps he  did  not  know  Latin  and  Greek  himself. 
Houston  left  the  school  saying  that  he  would 
never  recite  a  lesson  of  any  other  kind  so  long 
as  he  lived. 

Soon  after  this,  Sam  and  his  eldest  brother 
had  a  quarrel.  The  brother  wanted  him  to' be- 
come a  merchant  and  found  him  a  position  in  a 
store.  Sam  had  no  liking  for  an  indoor  life.  It 
was  too  civilized  and  too  confining.  One  day 
he  disappeared,  and  it  was  several  weeks  before 
he  was  found.  And  where  ?  Living  with  the 
Indians  across  the  Tennessee  River.  He  told 
his  friends  that  they  might  go  home  as  soon  as 
they  pleased.  He  liked  to  measure  deer  tracks 
better  than  tape  and  preferred  the  liberty  of  the 
red  man  to  the  tyranny  of  his  brothers.  There- 
fore he  was  going  to  stay  where  he  was.  Com- 
mands and  pleadings  were  of  no  avail.  His 
discoverers  returned,  and  Sam  remained  with 
the  Indians.  Once  he  went  home  because  his 
clothes  had  worn  out,  but  he  soon  returned  to 
his  wild  life.  A  chief  adopted  him  as  his  son, 


176  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

and  he  was  given  an  Indian  name.  He  wore 
the  dress  of  an  Indian  and  learned  to  speak  the 
Cherokee  language,  which  no  white  man  had 
ever  learned  before. 

Finally  he  got  into  debt  for  powder  and  shot 
and  went  back  to  civilization  to  earn  money  to 
pay  his  bill.  One  would  guess  a  long  time  be- 
fore he  would  guess  how  Houston  earned  this 
money.  He  opened  a  school  and  became  its 
teacher!  The  tuition  was  eight  dollars  a  year 
for  each  pupil.  One  third  was  to  be  paid  in 
corn,  one  third  in  calico,  such  as  hunting  shirts 
were  made  of,  and  one  third  in  money.  The 
pioneers  thought  that  his  price  was  high,  but 
the  school  became  so  popular  that  most  of  the 
children  of  the  neighborhood  attended. 

Houston  used  to  look  back  upon  his  school- 
keeping  career  with  great  satisfaction.  Long 
after,  when  he  was  a  senator,  Colonel  Peter 
Burke  said  to  him,  "  Now,  Houston,  you  have 
been  commander-in-chief  of*  the  Texan  army, 
president  of  the  Republic,  and  senator  of  the 
United  States.  In  which  of  these  offices  or  in 
what  period  of  your  career  have  you  felt  the 
greatest  pride  and  satisfaction  ?" 

"Well,  Burke,"  replied  Houston,  "  when  a 
young  man  in  Tennessee  I  kept  a  country 
school,  being  then  about  eighteen  years  of  age 


SAMUEL   HOUSTON  1/7 

and  a  tall,  strapping  fellow.  At  noon  after  the 
luncheon,  which  I  and  my  pupils  ate  together 
out  of  our  baskets,  I  would  go  out  into  the 
woods  and  cut  me  a  "  sour  wood  "  stick,  turn  it 
carefully  into  circular  spirals  and  thrust  one  half 
of  it  into  the  fire  which  would  turn  it  blue,  leav- 
ing the  other  half  white.  With  this  emblem  of 
ornament  and  authority  in  my  hand,  dressed  in 
a  hunting  shirt  of  flowered  calico,  a  long  queue 
down  my  back,  and  the  sense  of  authority  over 
my  pupils,  P  experienced  a  higher  degree  of  dig- 
nity and  self-satisfaction  than  from  any  pther 
office  or  honor  which  I  have  since  held." 

Houston's  school-keeping  experience  did  not 
last  long.  When  the  War  of  1812  broke  out 
between  England  and  the  United  States,  he  en- 
listed as  a  private  soldier.  His  friends  thought 
that  he  had  disgraced  his  family  and  ruined  his 
prospects  because  he  had  not  sought  to  get  an 
appointment  as  an  officer.  He  told  them  that 
he  would  rather  honor  the  ranks  than  disgrace  a 
commission.  His  mother  seemed  to  understand 
his  peculiar  disposition  better  than  the  others. 
She  brought  out  a  musket  and  presented  it  to 
him  with  a  little  speech.  "Go,"  she  said,  "and 
remember,  too,  that  while  the  door  of  my  cot- 
tage is  open  to  brave  men,  it  is  eternally  shut  to 
cowards." 


12 


1 78  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

Sam  shouldered  his  musket  and  marched  off 
to  the  war.  He  was  fortunate  enough  to  serve 
under  General  Andrew  Jackson,  who  quickly 
discovered  that  he  would  make  a  good  drill  offi- 
cer. He  had  had  his  practice  years  before  when 
he  spent  his  time  drilling  his  schoolmates  instead 

of  learning  his  lessons.  He 
received  his  promotion,  did 
good  service  and  earned 
the  friendship  of  Jackson. 
It  is  said  that  Jackson  was 
the  only  man  whom  Hous- 
ton thought  wiser  than 
himself — the  only  one  who 
could  cause  him  to  change 
his  opinions  or  his  actions. 

ANDREW    JACKSON  During      the      WRF      HOUS- 

ton  was  severely  wounded  and  carried  home  to 
his  mother.  Every  one  thought  he  would  never 
get  well.  Even  the  doctor  refused  to  care  for 
him,  saying  that  the  case  was  hopeless.  How- 
ever, "get  well  he  did ;  and  he  lived  to  fight 
many  battles  in  war  and  in  peace,  though  his 
wound  troubled  him  all  his  life. 

Houston  next  turned  his  attention  to  the  study 
of  law,  and  then  to  politics.  He  was  elected  to 
Congress  and  later  became  governor  of  Tennes- 
see, thus  bringing  to  pass  one  part  of  the  old 


SAMUEL   HOUSTON  179 

prophecy.  Houston  never  did  anything  just  like 
anybody  else  and  he  never  paid  mirch  attention 
to  the  fashions  of  the  tailor.  His  dress  on  the 
day  he  was  inaugurated  governor  was  a  peculiar 
combination  of  Indian,  soldier,  and  citizen  dress. 
On  his  head  was  a  tall,  bell-shaped,  black  beaver 
hat.  Around  his  neck  was  a  patent-leather  mili- 
tary stock.  His  shirt  was  ruffled,  his  trousers 
were  of  black  silk,  gathered  at  the  waist  and  of 
the  same  size  from  seat  to  ankle.  His  stockings 
were  silk  and  embroidered,  and  his  shoes  had 
silver  buckles.  Over  all  this  splendor  he  wore 
a  bright  Indian  hunting  shirt  belted  about  the 
waist  with  a  red  sash  embroidered  with  bead 
work  and  fastened  with  a  large  buckle. 

After  his  term  of  governorship,  Houston  again 
had  some  family  difficulties  ;  and  again  he  left 
civilization  and  went  to  his  old  friends,  the 
Cherokees,  who  had  now  moved  across  the  Mis- 
sissippi to  the  Arkansas.  John  Jolly,  his  adopted 
father,  was  glad  to  see  him  ;  but  he  said,  "  My 
son  has  not  acted  wisely.  He  should  have 
remained  among  his  people."  The  next  years 
were  far  from  being  lived  as  they  should  have 
been.  Houston  got  into  bad  habits  and  gave 
way  to  all  his  evil  passions.  Finally,  when  he 
had  grown  tired  of  this  life,  he  heard  of  the 
struggle  that  was  going  on  in  Texas,  where  the 


180  AMERICAN    PIONEERS 

American  settlers  had  revolted  against  the  Mexi- 
cans. 

One  day,  as  he  was  walking  on  the  river  bank 
with  a  merchant  named  John  Henry,  he  suddenly 
said,  "  Henry,  let  us  go  to  Texas,  for  I  am  tired 
of  this  country  and  of  this  life.  Go  with  me, 
and  I  will  make  a  fortune  for  us  both.  We  are 
not  fit  for  merchants,  never  were,  and  never  will 
be.  I  am  going,  and  in  that  new  country  I  will 
make  a  man  of  myself  again." 

Houston  kept  his  word.  When  he  reached 
Texas  he  was  appointed  commander-in-chief  of 
the  army  and  a  new  day  began  for  the  discour- 
aged Texans.  At  San  Jacinto  he  met  General 
Santa  Anna  who  had  so  cruelly  put  to  death 
David  Crockett  and  his  companions  at  the  Alamo. 
Houston's  battle  cry,  "  Remember  the  Alamo!" 
inspired  his  soldiers  to  such  courage  that  the 
Mexican  army  was  defeated  and  Santa  Anna 
fled  disguised  as  a  common  soldier. 

One  day,  as  Houston  was  lying  on  his  cot 
weary  and  half  sick,  a  soldier  rode  up  to  the  tent. 
Behind  him  was  a  little  man  dressed  in  a  cotton 
shirt,  linen  trousers,  and  worsted  slippers.  The 
Mexicans  who  were  hanging  around  cried,  "  El 
Presidente  !  El  Santa  Anna  !  "  He  was  led  into 
the  tent,  and  Houston  half  arose  to  receive  him. 
The  captive  made  a  low ;  bow  and  §.aid,  "I.  am 


SAMUEL   HOUSTON 


181 


General  Antonio  de  Santa  Anna,  President  of 
the  Mexican  Republic,  and  I  claim  to  be  a  pris- 
oner of  war  at  your  disposal." 

Houston  motioned  for  him  to  be  seated  on  an 
ammunition  box  and  sent  for  an  interpreter. 
Santa  Anna  then  said  that  the  man  who  had  con- 
quered the  great- 
est general  of  the 
West  must  consid- 
er himself  a  re- 
markable man,  and 
he  begged  him  to 
be  generous  to  the 
vanquished.  Hous- 
ton coolly  replied, 
44  You  should  have 
remembered  that 
at  the  Alamo."  In 
spite  of  the  im- 
plied threat,  Santa  Anna  was  kindly  treated.  He 
was  sent  by  Houston  to  Washington  and  after  a 
short  captivity  was  released. 

When  the  Americans  organized  the  Republic 
of  Texas,  Houston  was  elected  its  first  president. 
He  had  conquered  many  of  his  bad  habits  and 
now  set  to  work  to  do  the  very  best  he  could  for 
his  adopted  country.  The  people  respected 
him ;  two  things,  it  is  said,  could  always  bring  the 


ANTONIO   LOPEZ   DE   SANTA   ANNA 


182 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


Texans  out,  "a  circus  and  Sam  Houston."  All 
successful  men  have  their  enemies,  and  among 
Houston's  was  one  who  had  said  that  he  would 
shoot  him  dead  the  first  time  he  saw  him.  It 
happened  that  he  had  never  seen  Houston,  so 

Houston  deter- 
mined to  con- 
quer him.  One 
day  while  out 
riding  with  his 
staff  of  officers, 
he  came  to  this 
man's  house. 

"  We  have 
traveled  far 
enough.  Here 

o 

is  a  good  stop- 
ping-place," 
said  Houston. 
All  the  staff 
urged  him  to  go  further,  but  Houston  called 
and  inquired  if  they  could  get  lodgings  for  the 
night.  The  wife  who  came  at  his  call  replied 
that  she  would  be  glad  to  entertain  them. 
Houston  dismounted  and  seated  himself  on  the 
veranda,  and  his  companions  took  care  of  the 
horses  and  the  baggage.  Houston  was  very 
fond  of  children  ;  and  as  soon  as  he  saw  the 


TEXAN    COWBOYS 


SAMUEL   HOUSTON 


children  of  the  family  playing  near  by,  he  called 
them  to  him  and  they  quickly  became  friends. 
He  told  them  story  after  story,  and  his  hostess 
and  his  host  became  as  interested  as  the  children. 

When  supper  was  about  to  be  served,  Houston 
asked  his  host  to  wait  a  moment.  "  My  friend," 
he  said,  ''although  I 
do  not  profess  re- 
ligion, still  I  always 
ask  God's  blessing 
when  I  partake  of 
his  bounty.  Allow 
me  to  ask  a  bless- 
ing." 

"  Certainly,  sir," 
the  man  replied. 

All  through  the 
meal-time  Houston 
talked  cheerfully, 
and  the  whole  fam-  LONE  STAR  FLAG  OF  THE  TEXAS  REPUBLIC 

ily  were  delighted  with  their  unknown  guest. 
When  bedtime  came,  Houston  asked,  "  Have 
you  a  Bible?  It  is  always  my  habit  to  read  a 
portion  of  the  Scriptures  before  I  retire." 

A  Bible  was  found,  and  Houston  read  and  ex- 
plained a  portion.  Then  he  said,  "  Having 
done  all  I  usually  do  at  home,  we  are  ready  to 
retire." 


184  AMERICAN    PIONEERS 

The  staff  had  been  cautioned  not  to  use  his 
name  or  address  him  by  any  title  ;  but  the  next 
morning  one  forgot  and  said  as  the  horses  were 
brought  up,  "  General,  we  are  ready  to  start." 

The  man  looked  up  quickly.  "General!  Who?" 
he  asked. 

"  General  Houston,"  Houston  replied.  "  Hous- 
ton, himself." 

"  Are  you  General  Houston?  "  asked  his  host. 

"  I  am,  sir." 

"Well,"  he  said,  "I  have  always  said  that  I 
would  kill  you  on  sight ;  but,  sir,  any  man  that 
can  talk  to  my  wife  and  children  as  you  have 
talked,  ask  such  a  blessing  at  meals,  read  the 
Bible  and  comment  upon  it  as  you  have  done  is 
always  welcome  at  my  house." 

"Well,"  said  Houston,  "what  must  we  pay 
you  for  your  trouble  and  hospitality  ?" 

"  Nothing,  sir.  You  and  your  staff  can  call 
as  often  as  you  please.  From  this  time  on  I 
shall  be  a  Houston  man." 

When  Texas  was  admitted  as  a  state  of  the 
Union,  Houston  was  sent  to  the  Senate.  He 
never  took  part  in  any  of  the  great  debates,  but 
sat  at  his  desk  whittling  toys  for  children  and 
grumbling  at  the  long  speeches.  He  was  always 
interested  in  the  Indians  and  did  all  he  could 
for  them.  Once,  when  a  party  of  chiefs  came 


SAMUEL   HOUSTON 


I85 


up  to  Washington  from  Texas,  the  white  people 
who  had  thought  that  Indians  had  no  affection 
for  any  one  discovered  that  they  loved  one  man 
at  least.  As  soon  as  they  saw  Houston,  they 
ran  to  him  and  clasping  him  in  their  arms  called 


THE    PRESENT    CAPITOL    OF    TEXAS 


him,  "  Father."  "  I  never  knew  a  treaty,"  Hous- 
ton once  said,  "  that  was  made  and  carried  out  in 
good  faith  which  was  violated  by  the  Indians." 

One  other  story  illustrates  the  great  change- 
that  came  over  General  Houston  during  the  lat- 
ter part  of  his  life.  When  in  Washington,  he 
joined  the  church  and  became  a  devoted  mem- 
ber. One  Saturday  night  at  the  close  of  a  call 


1 86  AMERICAN    PIONEERS 

made  by  his  pastor,  he  said,  "Brother  S.,  is 
there  anything  I  can  do  for  you  ?  " 

"  No,  General,"  he  replied.  "  I  have  no 
tax  upon  you  at  present."  Then  the  pastor 
remembered  that  Houston  had  a  quarrel 
with  another  member  of  the  church,  and  that 
the  next  day  the  Lord's  Supper  was  to  be 
celebrated. 

"General,"  he  said,  "as  a  man,  I  have  nothing 
to  ask  of  you,  but  as  a  Christian  pastor,  I  have 
something  to  ask." 

The  General  fixed  his  eyes  upon  him  and 
asked,  "What  is  it,  Brother  S.  ?  " 

"  General,  you  know  the  quarrel  between  you 
and  Brother  W.  You  will  meet  at  the  Lord's 
Table  next  Sabbath  evening.  You  ought  not 
to  meet  until  that  difficulty  is  settled.  I  wish 
you  to  take  him  by  the  hand  and  say  with  all 
your  heart  that  you  will  forgive,  and  forget,  and 
bury  the  past,  and  that  you  wish  him  to  do  the 
same." 

The  fire  began  to  burn  in  General  Houston's 
eyes.  His  brow  knit.  His  teeth  clinched. 
His  whole  frame  shook.  It  was  hard  for  the 
stubborn  old  man  to  forgive  and  forget.  At 
last  he  slowly  said,  "  Brother  S.,  I  will  do  it"  ; 
and  the  next  day  he  kept  his  promise. 


PIONEERS   OF   CIVILIZATION 

Third  Migration— Across  the  Rockies 
CHAPTER    XVI 

JOHN    AUGUSTUS   SUTTER 
1803-1880 

'  TS  Captain  Slitter  here  ?" 

"  Yes,  he  is  in  the  house." 

"  I  want  to  see  him  quick." 

Mr.  James  W.  Marshall  jumped  from  his 
horse,  and  with  long  and  rapid  strides  walked 
into  the  house  of  Captain  John  A.  Sutter.  The 
place  was  Sacramento,  California  ;  and  the  time, 
late  in  the  afternoon  of  February  28,  1848. 

"  Good  evening,  Captain  Sutter,  I  want  to 
see  you  alone." 

Sutter  took  him  into  an  inner  room  and  closed 
and  locked  the  door.  "What  do  you  want?" 
said  Sutter.  "Any  damage  to  my  new  saw-mill  ?" 

"No,"  replied  Marshall;  "but  look  here." 
Then  he  emptied  upon  the  table  the  contents  of 


1 88 


AMERICAN    PIONEERS 


a  small  bag  and  said,  "  Here  are  two  ounces 
of  pure  gold,  which  I  picked  up  this  morning  in 
the  race-way  of  the  mill.  Gold  !  Gold  !  Look 
at  it,  Captain  Sutter.  Where  this  came  from, 


CAPTAIN   JOHN    A.    SUT'CEI 


there  must  be  more  of  the  same  sort.  Our  for- 
tune is  made  !  " 

Sutter  applied  such  tests  as  he  could.  He 
weighed  it.  He  pounded  it  and  found  that  it 
was  malleable.  Finally  he  tested  it  with  sul- 
phuric acid,  and  it  did  not  tarnish. 

"Yes,"  he  said,  "this  is  gold.  Where  did 
you  find  it  ?  and  how  did  it  happen  ?  " 


JOHN  AUGUSTUS   SUTTER 


I89 


"  Well,"  replied  Marshall,  "  you  know  we  are 
deepening  the  tail-race  of  the  mill.  We  dig 
during  the  day  and  turn  on  the  water  at  night. 
The  water  washes  down  stream  all  the  earth  we 
have  dug  up  the  previous  day.  Then  we  get 
out  the  rocks  and  stones  that  cannot  be  floated 
off  and  dig  up  more  earth  to  be  washed  away 
the  next  night.  Yester- 
day morning,  in  walking 
along  the  race,  I  found 
shining  particles  ;  and 
on  going  again  this 
morning,  I  found  more 
of  them.  The  place  is 
full  of  gold.  Let  us  keep  5 
still  about  it,  but  quietly 
go  to  digging  for  it." 

Marshall  wanted  S ut- 
ter to  start 

with  him  ;  but  as  it  was  raining  hard,  the  latter 
objected.  Marshall,  however,  rode  back  the 
forty  miles  that  night ;  and  he  and  all  the  laborers 
at  once  began  to  dig  for  gold.  The  mill-race 
remained  unfinished. 

When  America  was  first  discovered,  the  news 
spread  over  Europe  that  the  new  country  was 
rich  in  gold.  All  the  early  explorers  had  sought 
for  it,  and  some  had  ignorantly  believed  they 


.  11       EXAMINING   SAND   WITH    A   GOLD 

right   back  PAN 


IQO  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

had  found  it.  The  Spaniards  had  gathered  the 
shining  sands  of  Florida.  The  Virginia  settlers 
had  sent  to  England  a  ship-load  of  worthless 
yellow  clay.  Far  and  wide  the  country  had 
been  searched  for  the  precious  metal ;  and  though 
it  had  never  been  found  in  any  quantity,  still 
people  did  not  entirely  give  up  the  belief  that 
America  was  a  land  of  gold,  a  true  "  El  Dorado." 
Now  its  discovery  could  not  be  kept  a  secret. 
The  news  traveled  like  wild-fire,  until  the  papers 
all  over  the  United  States  were  talking  of  gold. 
For  a  time  it  seemed  that  every  one  was  going 
to  California.  Thousands  upon  thousands  did 

At  the  time  of  Marshall's  discovery  there 
were  scarcely  two  thousand  Americans  in  Cali- 
fornia. In  eight  months  there  were  six  thou- 
sand ;  by  July  of  the  next  year,  fifteen  thousand; 
and  before  the  following  Christmas,  more  than 
fifty  thousand  people  were  digging  gold  in  Cali- 
fornia. In  five  years  the  new  state  had  a  per- 
manent population  of  three  hundred  thousand, 
and  the  yield  from  the  gold  mines  had  amounted 
to  two  hundred  and  seventy  millions  of  dollars. 
"  El  Dorado  "  had  at  last  been  found. 

Thousands  of  people  gained  a  fortune  in  Cali- 
fornia. Thousands  went  home  disappointed  or 
remained  to  spend  their  days  in  poverty  and 


JOHN   AUGUSTUS    SUTTER  19! 

discontent.  How  was  it  with  Captain  Sutter  on 
whose  land  and  by  whose  men  the  gold  had  been 
found  ? 

John  Augustus  Sutter  was  born  a  little  over 
one    hundred    years    ago  (1803)   in    Kendon,  a 


HYDRAl'LI 


small  village  in  the  southwestern  part  of  Baden, 
in  Germany.  His  parents  were  Swiss,  and  they 
sent  him  to  the  military  college  in  Berne,  where 
he  was  graduated  at  the  age  of  twenty  years. 
When  he  was  thirty  he  emigrated  to  America. 
At  first  he  settled  in  St.  Louis,  but  afterwards 
he  pushed  further  west  and  engaged  in  the  fur 
trade  at  Santa  Fe.  While  there,  through  infor- 


IQ2  AMERICAN    PIONEERS 

mation  received  from  the  Indians,  and  from  the 
hunters  and  trappers  with  whom  he  traded, 
Sutter  became  interested  in  the  region  lying 
beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  bordering 
upon  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

He  crossed  the  mountains  to  the  Oregon 
country  and  descended  the  Columbia  River  to 
Fort  Vancouver.  At  that  time  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company  practically  controlled  everything 
in  the  region,  and  there  were  but  few  American 
settlers  there.  Many  tribes  of  Indians  roamed 
over  the  country  ;  and  bear,  otter,  fox,  wolf, 
deer,  and  other  wild  animals,  furnished  valuable 
furs. 

From  Oregon,  Sutter  took  passage  in  a  sailing 
vessel  and  went  to  the  Sandwich  Islands.  There 
he  bought  a  new  vessel,  loaded  it  with  merchan- 
dise, and  sailed  away  for  the  Russian  port,  Sitka, 
in  Alaska.  Then,  having  disposed  of  his  cargo 
to  good  advantage,  he  set  sail  again.  This  time 
he  explored  the  entire  coast  as  far  south  as  the 
Bay  of  San  Francisco,  then  called,  as  it  had 
been  named  by  the  Spaniards,  the  Bay  of  "  Yerba 
Buena,"  "  good  herb." 

Where  now  stands  the  largest  city  on  the 
Pacific  coast,  there  were  then,  less  than  sixty 
years  ago,  but  a  few  tumble-down  adobe  houses, 
scarcely  enough  to  warrant  the  name  of  village. 


JOHN   AUGUSTUS    SUTTER 


193 


The  entire  country  was  wild  and  desolate.  Here 
and  there  were  a  few  Mexicans,  but  the  principal 
inhabitants  were  wandering  Indians. 

At  San  Francisco,  Sutler's  vessel  was  wrecked ; 
so  he  determined  to  seek  his  fortune  in  the  in- 


NATIVK    CAI.IFORMANS    LASSOING    A    \\I1.I)    JIKAK 

terior.  With  great  difficulty  he  pushed  his  way 
up  the  valley  of  the  Sacramento  ;  and  on  the 
spot  where  the  city  of  Sacramento  now  stands, 
he  founded  the  first  white  settlement  in  northern 
California.  He  received  a  large  grant  of  land 
from  the  Mexican  Government  and  was  ap- 
pointed governor  of  that  northern  frontier 
country. 
13 


194  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

At  the  close  of  the  Mexican  War  all  that 
region  called  New  Mexico  and  Upper  California 
was  ceded  to  the  United  States.  Captain  Sutter 
was  then  the  foremost  man  in  Upper  California. 
He  owned  broad  tracts  of  land  and  had  thousands 
of  cattle,  horses,  and  sheep.  He  had  developed 
an  extensive  trade  with  the  Indians,  had  built  a 
flour-mill  and  sawmills,  and  established  a  tannery 
and  other  prosperous  lines  of  business. 

As  we  have  seen,  it  was  in  connection  with  the 
building  of  a  new  sawmill  that  gold  was  discov- 
ered. Captain  Sutter  was  already  a  rich  man, 
and  it  would  seem  that  this  discovery  on  his 
own  land  must  have  greatly  increased  his  wealth. 
But  the  result  was  far  Qtherwise.  His  men  for- 
sook his  mills  and  his  ranch  to  dig  for  gold.  All 
his  varied  interests  were  neglected  and  went  to 
ruin.  His  lands  were  taken  from  him,  and  gold 
claims  and  house-lots  were  staked  out  on  the 
premises  that  had  formerly  been  his. 

The  new  settlers  and  gold  diggers  not  only 
took  his  land,  but  stole  his  cattle,  sheep,  and 
horses ;  helped  themselves  to  his  large  crops  of 
corn,  wheat,  and  potatoes  ;  destroyed  his  fur 
trade  with  the  Indians  and  his  hide  and  leather 
trade  with  the  East ;  and  left  everything  a  total 
wreck.  There  was  no  redress  except  by  the 
slow  and  uncertain  processes  of  the  law.  Sutter 


JOHN   AUGUSTUS   SUTTER  195 

spent  his  entire  fortune  fighting  the  new  claim- 
ants of  his  property  aad  was  finally  beaten. 

It  was  a  sad  case.  He  had  always  been  an 
upright  and  honorable  man  and  a  loyal  Ameri- 
can. He  was  now  poor,  broken  down  in  health, 
and  utterly  discouraged.  Out  of  sheer  sym- 
pathy, the  legislature  of  California  granted  him 
a  pension  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  a 
month.  Later  his  homestead  was  burned,  and 
he  was  compelled  to  give  up  all  his  property. 
At  the  age  of  threescore  and  ten,  he  removed  to 
Lititz,  Pennsylvania,  where  he  passed  the  few  re- 
maining years  of  his  life. 

But  the  mining  of  gold  in  California  still  con- 
tinues. Gold  worth  millions  of  dollars  is  taken 
from  the  mines  each  year.  The  entire  amount 
since  the  discovery  in  Captain  Sutter's  race-way 
reaches  well-nigh  the  enormous  sum  of  two 
thousand  millions  of  dollars. 


The  Pick  Mattock  of  the  Miner 


CHAPTER    XVII 

AMOS    LAWRENCE    LOVEJOY 

i8o5(?)-i882 

countries  have  a  history  more  romantic 
than  that  of  the  Oregon  Territory.  Few 
of  the  early  settlers  of  that  region  lived  lives 
more  varied  or  more  interesting  than  that  of 
General  A.  L.  Lovejoy.  He  first  arrived  in 
Oregon  early  in  September,  1842.  He  died  at 
his  home  in  Portland,  early  in  September,  1882. 
During  these  forty  years  his  life  and  his  work 
were  closely  connected  with  the  settlement,  de- 
velopment, and  prosperity  of  the  region  which  is 
now  divided  into  the  three  states  of  Oregon, 
Washington,  and  Idaho. 

General  Lovejoy  was  a  native  of  Massachu- 
setts, born  in  the  town  of  Groton  about  a 
hundred  years  ago.  His  father  was  Dr.  Samuel 
Lovejoy,  and  his  mother  was  Betsy  Lawrence,  a 
cousin  and  adopted  sister  of  the  Honorable  Ab- 
bott Lawrence  who  was  at  one  time  United 
States  minister  to  Great  Britain.  Amos  was 
prepared  for  college  and  in  due  time  entered 


AMOS   LAWRENCE   LOVEJOY 


I97 


Harvard.  He  did  not  finish  his  course  there, 
but  changed  to  Amherst  where  he  was  gradu- 
ated. He  studied  law  with  Judge  May  of  Maine 
and  was  admitted  to  the  bar. 

Lovejoy  was  a  born  pioneer.     He  was  restive 
under  the   quiet,   uneventful  life  of   New    Eng- 


ON     THE    COI.rMI'-IA     RIVER,     ORKC.ON:      INDIANS     Sl'EARINO     SALMON    AS 
THEY    COME    OVER    THE    FALLS 

land  and  longed  for  greater  freedom  and  a  more 
active  career  in  the  West.  On  the  very  west- 
ern border  of  Missouri  was  a  little  hamlet  called 
Sparta.  Thither  went  Lovejoy  and  opened  a 
law  office.  In  the  spring  of  1842  that  fron- 
tier region  was  greatly  excited  over  the  discus- 
sions in  Congress  and  in  the  newspapers  con- 


198  AMERICAN    PIONEERS 

cerning  the  Oregon  country.  A  party  of  emi- 
grants was  just  starting  out  under  Doctor  Elijah 
White,  who  had  spent  several  years  with  the 
Methodist  mission  in  Oregon  and  had  recently 
received  an  appointment  from  our  national 
government  as  Indian  agent.  The  party  num- 
bered more  than  a  hundred,  the  first  large  party 
with  women  and  children  to  cross  the  mountains 
for  Oregon.  Lovejoy  joined  the  expedition 

It 'was  about  the  middle  of  May,  1842,  when 
they  set  out  for  the  far  West.  Passing  through 
a  country  inhabited  solely  by  hostile  Indians,  it 
was  necessary  for  them  to  be  constantly  on  their 
guard.  One  of  their  own  number  describes  their 
daily  routine  as  follows  : 

"  They  traveled  all  day,  steadily  onward,  till 
four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  when  they  halted. 
As  large  a  circle  was  made  as  could  be  formed 
by  the  wagons,  drawn  up  one  behind  another ; 
and  then  the  mules,  horses,  etc.,  with  ropes  of 
perhaps  fifty  feet  in  length  attached  to  them, 
were  turned  loose  upon  the  prairie  to  feed  till 
evening.  Each  person  then  built  a  fire  opposite 
his  own  wagon  ;  and  while  this  was  being  done, 
the  females  were  preparing  food  for  cooking. 
Two  forked  sticks  were  driven  into  the  ground, 
a  pole  laid  across,  and  kettle  swung  upon  it. 
Those  who  had  tables  set  them  out ;  while  others 


AMOS    LAWRENCE   LOVEJOY  199 

laid  the  cloth  upon  the  ground  and  seated  them- 
selves around,  after  the  fashion  of  olden  times, 
partaking  of  the  food  before  them  with  appetites 
not  at  all  wanting  in  keenness. 

"  After  the  meal,  they  usually  enjoyed  a  season 
of  recreation,  sauntering  about  at  their  leisure  ; 
and  it  was  really  the  most  delightful  part  of  the 
day.  At  sunset,  the  horses  were  caught ;  and 
each  by  a  rope  was  fastened  to  a  stake,  at  suit- 
able distances,  and  left  for  the  night.  Sentinels 
were  then  stationed  at  different  points,  and  in  all 
directions  were  heard  the  blows  of  the  axes  and 
the  hammers  of  the  men,  driving  the  stakes  and 
setting  up  the  tents.  Most  of  the  women  and 
children  slept  in  the  comfortable,  Pennsylvania 
wagons  ;  and  the  men,  on  blankets  spread  under 
the  tents,  with  coats  and  saddles  for  pillows. 

"  As  day  dawned, — according  to  a  law,  made 
as  in  other  republics,  by  a  majority  of  votes, — at 
a  given  signal,  every  one  rose  to  prepare  for 
departure.  The  boys  went  in  all  directions  to 
collect  the  teams  and  herds,  which  often  detained 
them  for  several  hours,  as  the  cattle  would  some- 
times wander  off  for  miles.  The  first  meal  being 
over,  the  dishes  nicely  .stowed  away,  and  every- 
thing pronounced  in  readiness,  he  who  had  taken 
the  lead  the  day  before  went  to  the  rear,  while 
the  next  in  order  took  his  place.  This  rule  was 


2OO 


AMERICAN    PIONEERS 


invariably  observed,  as  it  prevented  any  feeling 
that  others  were  preferred  to  them." 

The  route  of  these  pioneers  lay  up  the  Platte 
River  and  through  the  afterwards  famous  South 
Pass,  where  is  Independence  Rock.  It  was  the 


"  WESTWARD    110  !" 

From  the  painting  by  Rmanuel  Leutzc  in  the  Capitol  at  Washington.  Above  it  is 
the  legend :  "  Westward  the  course  of  c»t/>ire  takes  its  way"  from  Bishop 
Berkeley's  poem,  "On  the  Prospect  of  Planting  A  rts  and  Learn  ing  in .  /  in  erica" 
written  in  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Below  is  a  view  of  the 
Golden  Gate,  harbor  of  San  h'rancisco,  and  in  the  borders  are  portraits  of 
Daniel  Boone  and,  William  Clark. 


fe  this  place  to 
Doctor  White 


custom   for  all  emigrants  passim? 

chisel  their  names  upon  the  rock. 

and  others  had  finished  theirs  and  left  Lovejoy 

and  one  other  "  who  were  doing  this  with  great 

care,"  when  a  large  party  of  Sioux  Indians  came 

*  Ten  Years,  in  Oregon,  by  Dr.  E.  White. 


AMOS   LAWRENCE   LOVEJOY  2OI 

stealthily  around  from  the  opposite  side  of  the 
rock.  They  rushed  upon  the  two  men,  stripped 
them  of  their  clothing,  and  apparently  were 
about  to  kill  Lovejoy,  when  they  stopped  to  hold 
a  grave  consultation.  At  length,  they  advanced 
with  their  prisoners  toward  the  caravan  of  white 
men.  One  of  the  party  of  emigrants  went  for- 
ward to  meet  the  Indians,  making  signs  of  peace. 
The  Indians  halted  and  agreed  to  free  the  pris- 
oners for  a  ransom  of  tobacco  and  a  few  trinkets. 

"While  traveling  across  the  plains  with  Doctor 
E.  White,  and  listening  to  his  glowing  descrip- 
tion of  the  wonderful  country  beyond  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  with  its  large  rivers,  magnificent 
forests,  and  beautiful  fertile  valleys,  Mr.  Lovejoy 
had  become  very  much  interested  in  the  future 
of  the  country  on  the  Pacific  coast,  and  he  was 
anxious  to  see  it  settled  and  held  by  the  Ameri- 
cans." On  arriving  at  Doctor  Whitman's  mission 
station  in  Oregon,  he  found  the  Doctor  planning 
to  go  east  in  the  interest  of  the  mission  and  of 
the  Oregon  country. 

The  two  talked  over  the  whole  subject,  and 
Whitman  asked  Lovejoy  if  he  thought  it  possible 
to  cross  the  mountains  in  the  winter.  Lovejoy 
told  him  he  thought  that  with  a  good  guide  it 
might  be  done.  The  Doctor  asked  him  if  he 
would  accompany  him.  Lovejoy  had  just  com- 

OF  THE 

SCHOOL     DEPART  M 

OFTH; 
CITY  AND  COUNTY  OF  SAN  FRANCISCO, 


202  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

pleted  the  long  journey  with  all  its  dangers  and 
difficulties,  had  been  once  captured  by  the  In- 
dians, and  now  was  near  the  end  of  his  travels  ; 
yet  so  impressed  was  he  with  the  country  and 
the  importance  of  its  being  permanently  a  part 
of  the  United  States  that  he  at  once  promised  to 
go  with  Dr.  Whitman. 

They  started  on  their  perilous  journey  at  the 
beginning  of  October.  Their  route  was  to  Fort 
Hall  in  southeastern  Idaho,  thence  southerly  by 
way  of  Santa  Fe  in  New  Mexico,  then  northeast 
to  Bent's  Fort  on  the  upper  waters  of  the  Ar- 
kansas River.  Here  Lovejoy,  thoroughly  ex- 
hausted, remained,  while  Whitman  continued 
his  journey  east.  The  following  spring,  Whit- 
man aided  a  large  party  of  nearly  a  thousand 
persons  across  the  plains  and  through  the  moun- 
tains to  distant  Oregon. 

Lovejoy  probably  busied  himself  during  the 
winter  months  in  giving  information  concerning 
Oregon  to  the  pioneers  bordering  upon  the  Ar- 
kansas River.  In  the  spring  he  went  north 
and,  as  he  afterwards  wrote,  "joined  the  Doctor 
[Whitman]  in  July  near  Fort  Laramie,  on  his 
way  to  Oregon  with  a  train  of  emigrants."  He 
arrived  at  Oregon  City  in  November,  1843, 
opened  a  law  office  and  commenced  the  practice 
of  law.  From  the  first  he  had  a  large  business, 


AMOS    LAWRENCE    LOVEJOY  203 

and  the  next  year  he  became  a  member  of  the 
Oregon  legislature,  and  two  years  later  he  was 
the  speaker  of  the  territorial  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives. 

In    1845,  Lovejoy  and  Mr.  F.  W.  Pettygrove 
laid  out  the  city  of  Portland,  they  two  being  the 


IN  THE  FAMOUS  ASSAY  OFFICE,  SEATTLE,  WASHINGTON:  BALANCES 
THAT  HAVE  WEIGHED  OVER  EIGHTEEN  MILLION  DOLLARS'  WORTH 
OF  GOLD 

owners  of  a  large  tract  of  land  there.  It  is  re- 
lated that,  when  they  were  discussing  what  name 
to  give  to  the  city,  Lovejoy  wished  to  name  it 
Boston  ;  but  Pettygrove  who  came  from 
Maine,  insisted  on  calling  it  Portland.  As 
they  could  not  agree,  they  proposed  to  let  chance 


204  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

decide  it.  They  tossed  up  a  cent ;  Pettygrove 
won  ;  and  the  place  was  called  Portland. 

General  Lovejoy's  three  trips  across  the 
Rocky  Mountains  were  not  travel  enough  for 
him.  In  1848,  he  made  the  journey  to  Califor- 
nia, and  was  for  some  time  at  work  in  the  gold 
mines  of  the  Sacramento  valley.  However,  he 
soon  returned  to  his  family  in  Oregon,  and  after 
the  regular  territorial  government  went  into 
effect,  he  held  many  important  offices,  both  from 
the  Territory  and  from  the  United  States.  He 
acquired  considerable  property,  and  was  largely 
interested  in  steamboats  and  railways. 

After  1867  he  resided  in  Portland,  where  he 
took  an  active  part  in  establishing  schools,  espe- 
cially the  High  School.  The  historian  of  the 
Northwest  tells  us  that  "  He  was  a  supporter  of 
religious  institutions,  and  favored  all  efforts  to 
promote  morality.  He  was  a  firm  believer  in 
Oregon  and  an  admirer  of  her  beautiful  land- 
scape scenery  and  her  mountain  grandeur.  Few 
if  any  of  the  pioneers  have  done  more  to  entitle 
them  to  celebrity  than  General  Amos  L.  Love- 
joy.  His  name  and  acts  deserve  to  be  indelibly 
stamped  upon  the  pages  of  Oregon  history." 


CHAPTER    XVIII 

PETER    H.    BURNETT 
1807-1895 

'T~"NHE  Atlantic  slope  of  our  country  was  settled 
by  pioneers  from  Europe  more  than  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years  ago.  The  first  pioneers 
of  the  Mississippi  valley  crossed  the  Alleghany 
Mountains  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  years 
ago.  The '  Pacific  coast  settlements  have  been 
made  mostly  within  the  last  fifty  years.  What 
rapid  strides  the  Oregon  country  and  the  broad 
California  region  have  made  within  these  fifty 
years  ! 

A  little  more  than  sixty  years  ago,  the  Ameri- 
cans began,  in  a  small  way,  in  Oregon.  Very 
few  of  our  people  had  gone  thither  before  1843. 
During  that  summer  nearly  a  thousand  persons, 
—men,  women,  and  children, — made  their  way 
slowly  across  the  great  plains,  over  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  and  down  the  Columbia  River  to  find 
for  themselves  homes  in  the  valley  of  that  river 
and  along  the  shore  of  the  picturesque  Willa- 
mette, Their  arrival  just  at  this  time  made  it 


206  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

possible  for  the  United  States  to  hold  the  Ore- 
gon country. 

Prominent  in  this  company  of  emigrants  was 
Peter  H.  Burnett,  who  afterwards  became  the 
first  governor  of  California.  He  was  a  native 
of  Nashville,  Tennessee.  When  he  was  ten 
years  old  he  went  with  his  father's  family  to  Mis- 
souri. His  life  in  this  new  territory  was  year 
after  year,  one  continued  hardship.  Everything 
that  the  farmers  could  raise  for  sale  brought  but 
a  very  low  price,  while  everything  that  they  had 
to  buy  was  very  high.  Their  Indian  corn  brought 
but  ten  cents  a  bushel ;  wheat,  but  fifty  cents  ; 
and  pork  sold  for  a  cent  and  a  quarter  a  pound. 

Young  Burnett  was  at  first  a  farmer's  boy  ; 
then  he  became  a  clerk  in  a  country  hotel ;  after- 
wards, a  merchant;  and  finally  he -studied  law. 
As  a  lawyer  he  had  considerable  success,  but  in 
the  winter  of  1842-43  he  decided  to  emigrate  to 
the  Oregon  region.  He  made  speeches  here  and 
there,  organized  a  wagon  company,  and  in  the 
spring  following,  he  and  his  family  joined  the 
emigrant  train.  He  had  four  yoke  of  oxen,  two 
mules,  two  ox-wagons,  and  one  horse-wagon. 

The  caravan  which  he  joined  was  the  famous 
body  of  emigrants  for  which  Doctor  Marcus 
Whitman  did  so  much.  They  started  from  the 
frontier  in  May  and  reached  Waiilatpu  (wl"-e- 


PETER   H.    BURNETT  2O; 

lat'po),  Doctor  Whitman's  home  in  the  Oregon 
country,  in  October.  This  journey  of  so  large 
a  party  across  the  plains  and  through  the  Rocky 
Mountains  was  full  of  incident,  accident,  and 
suffering.  At  one  time  five  men  were  hunting 
buffalo.  They  came  upon  a  herd  of  full-grown 
ones  and  wounded  the  largest  and  strongest  of 


DR.  WHITMAN'S  HOME  AT  WAIILATPU,  WASHINGTON 

them  all.  When  wounded,  a  buffalo  will  turn 
upon  his  pursuers  and  fight.  "  He  turned  sud- 
denly around,"  writes  Burnett  in  his  narrative, 
"  and  faced  me  with  his  shaggy  head,  black  horns, 
and  gleaming  eyes.  My  horse  stopped  instantly, 
and  I  rode  round  the  old  bull  to  get  a  shot  at  his 
side,  but  he  kept  his  head  towards  me.  I  dis- 
mounted and  tried  to  get  a  shot  on  foot.  I 


2O8  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

would  go  a  few  steps  from  my  horse  when  the 
buffalo  would  bound  towards  me.  Then  I  would 
dodge  behind  my  pony.  At  last  I  got  a  fair 
chance  and  shot  him  through  the  lungs." 

Those  early  pioneers  in  Oregon  suffered  many 
hardships.  Burnett  relates  that  "  For  the  first 
two  years  after  our  arrival  in  Oregon  we  were 
frequently  without  any  meat  for  weeks  at  a  time, 
sometimes  without  bread,  and  occasionally  with- 
out bread  and  meat  at  the  same  time.  On  these 
occasions,  if  we  had  milk,  butter,  and  potatoes, 
we  were  well  content."  * 

At  another  time,  as  he  tells  us,  it  was  exceed- 
ingly difficult  to  get  clothing.  "  In  the  streets 
of  Oregon  City,"  he  says,  "  I  met  a  young  man 
with  a  new  and  substantial  leather  hunting-shirt, 
brought  from  the  Rocky  Mountains,  where  he 
had  purchased  it  from  the  Indians.  I  said  to  him, 
'  What  will  you  take  for  your  leather  hunting- 
shirt  ? '  He  replied,  '  Seven  bushels  of  wheat.' 
I  said  at  once,  '  I  will  take  it.'  I  measured  him 
out  the  grain  and  took  the  shirt.  I  knew  it  would 
last  me  for  several  years.  I  found  it  a  most 
excellent  article  of  dress,  in  clear  weather,  for 
rough  work." 

At  another  time  Burnett  had  but  one  working 
shirt,  and  that  was  nearly  worn  out.  "  Where 

*  Burnett's  Recollections  of  an  Old  Pioneer. 


PETER   H.    BURNETT  209 

or  how  to  procure  another,"  he  writes,  "  I  could 
not  tell."  Just  then  he  was  called  upon,  in  his 
capacity  of  justice  of  the  peace,  to  marry  a  young 
couple  ;  and  he  received  as  a  marriage  fee  an 
order  on  a  store  for  five  dollars.  "  Then,"  he 
says,  "  I  purchased  some  blue  twilled  cotton  out 
of  which  my  wife  made  me  a  shirt.  The  material 


A   CARAVAN   ON    ITS   WAY   TO   CALIFORNIA 

wore  well,  but,  having  been  colored  with   log- 
wood, it  left  the  skin  blue." 

When  the  news  of  the  discovery  of  gold  in 
California  reached  Oregon,  it  created  the  most 
intense  excitement.  Nothing  else  was  talked 
about.  More  than  half  the  men  speedily  started 
south.  In  September,  Mr.  Burnett  organized  a 
wagon  company  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  men 
and  fifty  wagons,  and  in  eight  days  they  were 
off  for  California. 
14 


210  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

Their  way  lay  over  lava  beds,  rocky  mountains, 
steep  precipices,  and  barren  plains,  where  there 
were  no  roads.  They  carried  an  ample  supply 
of  provisions,  and  in  due  time  they  passed  the 
summit  of  the  mountains.  Once  they  overtook 
a  party  of  half-starved  pioneers,  hungry,  poor, 
and  utterly  lost.  At  another  time,  so  Burnett 
says,  "  Our  pilot,  Thomas  McKay,  came  across 
an  old  woman  on  foot,  driving  before  her  a 
packed  ox  down  a  steep  hill.  When  he  ap- 
proached near  her,  he  made  a  noise  that  caused 
her  to  stop  and  look  back.  '  Who  are  you  and 
where  did  you  come  from  ?'  she  asked  in  a  loud 
voice.  He  informed  her  that  he  was  one  of  a 
party  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  men,  who  were  on 
their  way  from  Oregon,  with  wagons  and  ox- 
teams,  to  the  California  gold  mines.  '  Have  you 
got  any  flour?'  'Yes,  madam,  plenty.'  'You 
are  like  an  angel  from  Heaven.'  And  she  raised 
a  loud  and  thrilling  shout  that  rang  through  the 
primeval  forest." 

Much  of  the  way,  they  had  to  open  a  new  road 
for  their  wagons.  They  would  detail  sixty  or 
eighty  men  for  this  work  and  leave  the  others  to 
drive  the  teams.  To  quote  Burnett  again,  "We 
plied  our  axes  with  skill,  vigor,  and  success,  and 
opened  the  route  about  as  fast  as  the  teams  could 
follow." 


PETER   H.   BURNETT  211 

They  met  with  many  narrow  escapes,  but  had 
no  serious  accidents.  In  this  they  were  more 
fortunate  than  the  famous  Donner  party  which 
had  gone  over  the  mountains  two  years  before 
them.  Of  the  sufferings  of  that  party  is  told  the 
following : 

"  At  one  time  while  crossing  the  Sierras,  a  ter- 
rible storm  came  up,  and  snow  fell  during  the 
night  to  the  depth  of  about  six  feet.  The  ani- 
mals fled  before  the  driving  storm  and  all  per- 
ished. The  party  made  their  way  slowly  forward 
on  snow-shoes,  the  snow  being  from  ten  to  fif- 
teen feet  deep.  They  could  travel  only  from 
five  to  eight  miles  a  day.  Their  food  was  rapidly 
diminishing.  When  they  reached  the  western 
side  of  the  summit,  they  encamped  as  usual  on 
the  top  of  the  snow.  They  cut  logs  of  green 
wood  about  six  feet  long  and  with  them  con- 
structed a  platform  on  the  snow  and  upon  this 
made  their  fire  of  dry  wood.  At  one  time  the 
platform  was  composed  of  small  logs,  as  they 
were  too  weak  from  starvation  to  cut  and  handle 
large  ones.  During  the  following  evening  there 
came  up  a  driving,  blinding  snow-storm  which 
lasted  all  that  night  aod  the  next  day  and  night. 
New  snow  fell  to  the  depth  of  several  feet.  They 
maintained  for  a  time  a  good  fire,  to  keep  them- 
selves from  freezing ;  but  the  small  foundation 


212 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


logs  were  soon  burnt  nearly  through  so  that  the 
heat  of  the  fire  melted  the  snow  beneath,  letting 
them  down  gradually  toward  the  ground,  while 
the  snow  above  was  falling  thick  and  fast.  By 
midnight  they  were  in  a  circular  well  in  the  snow 
about  eight  feet  deep  with  ice-cold  water  begin- 
ning to  rise  in  the  bottom.  After  the  founda- 


THE   DONNER    PARTY    CROSSING   THE   SIERRA    MOUNTAINS    IN    1846 

tion  was  gone  they  kept  alive  the  fire  by  setting 
the  wood  on  end  and  kindling  the  fire  on  top." 
Several  of  their  number  perished.  Their  provi- 
sions were  so  reduced  that  they  had  only  half  a 
biscuit  each.  Only  two  ,men  and  five  women 
reached  the  eastern  side  of  the  Sacramento  val- 
ley where  they  found  relief  from  their  sufferings 
from  the  kind-hearted  settlers  already  there. 


PETER   H.    BURNETT  213 

As  Burnett's  company  approached  the  gold  re- 
gions, the  pace  of  the  oxen  which  drew  the  heavy 
wagons  was  too  slow  for  many  of  the  men.  A 
number  now  went  ahead  on  their  horses,  expect- 
ing to  reach  the  mines  before  the  wagons.  As 
it  happened  they  got  lost  in  the  mountains,  and 


A    SETTLEMENT    AT    THE    FOOT    OF    THE    ROCKY    MOUNTAINS 

the  slow-going  oxen  were  the  first  to  reach  their 
destination. 

Burnett  and  two  others  bought  a  mining  claim 
for  which  they  promised  to  pay  three  hundred 
dollars  in  gold  dust.  They  "rose  at  daylight,  ate 
breakfast  by  sunrise,  worked  until  noon,  then 
took  dinner,  went  to  work  again  about  half-past 
twelve,  quit  work  at  sunset,  and  slept  under  a 
canvas  tent  on  the  hard  ground."  They  were 


214  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

fortunate  in  their  claim,  and  soon  every  man  was 
making  twenty  dollars  a  day. 

Mr.  Burnett  tells  us  that  it  was  very  easy 
to  discover  when  the  miners  quit  work  in 
the  evening  what  success  they  had  had  during 
the  day.  "When  I  met  a  miner,"  he  writes, 
"  with  a  silent  tongue  and  downcast  look,  I  knew 
he  had  not  made  more  than  eight  or  ten  dollars  ; 
when  I  met  one  with  a  contented  but  not  excited 
look,  I  knew  he  had  made  from  sixteen  to  twenty 
dollars  ;  but  when  I  met  one  with  a  glowing 
countenance,  and  quick,  high,  vigorous  step,  so 
that  the  rocks  were  not  much  if  at  all  in  his  way, 
I  knew  he  had  made  from  twenty  to  fifty  dollars. 
His  tongue  was  so  flexible  and  glib  he  would  not 
permit  me  to  pass  in  silence,  but  must  stop  me 
and  tell  me  of  his  success." 

When  Mr.  Burnett  had  made  a  favorable  start, 
he  rose  rapidly.  Being  a  lawyer,  he  naturally 
entered  the  political  field.  He  took  an  active 
part  in  the  affairs  of  the  territory  of  California, 
and  when  it  was  admitted  as  a  state  of  the  Union 
he  became  candidate  for  governor.  A  story  of 
his  campaign  illustrates  the  rapid  growth  of  Cal- 
ifornia. Before  the  election  Mr.  Burnett  went 
to  San  Francisco.  "  When  I  left  the  city  six 
weeks  before,"  he  said,  "  I  knew  a  large  portion 
of  the  people  of  the  place ;  but  upon  my  return, 


PETER   H.   BURNETT  215 

I  did  not  know  one  in  ten,  such  had  been  the 
rapid  increase  in  the  population.  I  was  surprised 
to  find  myself  so  much  of  a  stranger,  and  I  said 
to  myself  '  This  is  rather  a  poor  prospect  for 
governor."1 

However,  he  was  elected  the  first  governor  of 
California  and  remained  in  office  a  little  over  two 
years.  Then  he  resigned,  as  it  was  necessary 
for  him  to  give  all  his  time  to  his  private  affairs. 
He  was  successful  in  his  law  practice  and  gained 
considerable  property.  He  interested  himself  in 
many  lines  of  work,  was  the  author  of  several 
books  and  pamphlets  and  many  articles  for  the 
newspapers.  Among  his  writings  his  book  en- 
titled "  The  Recollections  of  an  Old  Pioneer  "  is 
justly  deserving  of  a  high  place  in  the  annals  of 
our  nation. 


PART  II 

PIONEERS    OF    REFORM 


Government 
CHAPTER    XIX 

THOMAS     JEFFERSON 
1743-1826 


TT   was  Thomas  Jefferson, 
of   Virginia,   who  wrote 
the     Declaration     of     Inde- 
pendence. 

"  When,  in  the  course  of 
human  events,  it  becomes 
necessary  for  one  people  to 
dissolve  the  political  bands 
which  have  connected  them 
with  another,  and  to  assume 
among  the  powers  of  the  earth  the  separate  and 
equal  station  to  which  the  laws  of  nature  and 
of  nature's  God  entitle  them,  a  decent  respect 
to  the  opinions  of  mankind  requires  that  they 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON 


2l8  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

should  declare  the  causes  which  impel  them  to 
the  separation. 

"We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident: 
that  all  men  are  created  equal ;  that  they  are 
endowed  by  their  Creator  writh  certain  inalien- 
able rights  ,  that  among  these  are  life,  liberty, 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness." 

These  words,  every  school  boy  should  com- 
mit to  memory.  Thousands  of  American  youths 
have  learned  the  entire  Declaration.  Let  us 
learn,  at  least,  something  of  the  life  and  charac- 
ter of  its  author,  one  of  the  country's  foremost 
pioneers  of  governmental  reform. 

Thomas  Jefferson's  ancestor,  John  Jefferson, 
a  Welshman,  was  a  member  of  the  first  Virginia 
legislature,  even  before  the  Pilgrims  landed 
from  the  Mayflower  at  Plymouth.  The  father 
of  Thomas  Jefferson,  Peter  Jefferson,  was  a  well- 
to-do  farmer  in  Virginia.  His  plantation  in- 
cluded nearly  two  thousand  acres,  and  over  thirty 
slaves  were  employed  on  it.  Thomas  Jefferson 
was  born  in  the  year  1 743.  When  he  was  four- 
teen years  old,  his  father  died.  Jefferson  grew 
up  a  tall,  raw-boned,  freckled  youth,  with  sandy 
hair,  large  feet  and  hands,  thick  wrists,  and 
prominent  cheek  bones.  But  he  stood  erect, 
was  agile  and  strong,  and  as  his  comrades  de- 
scribed him,  fresh,  healthy-looking,  and  hand- 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON 


219 


some.  Though  he  was  quick  to  learn,  he  studied 
hard  and  industriously,  sometimes  fifteen  hours 
a  day  ;  for  at  seventeen  he  entered  William  and 
Mary  College  at  Williamsburg. 

Williamsburg  was  the  capital  of  the  colony. 
It  stood  upon  the  summit  or  divide,  midway 
between  the  James  and  the  York  rivers.  The 


THE   COLLEGE   OF    WILLIAM    AND    MARY,    AS    IT    APPEARS    TO-DAY 

main  street  was  called  "  The  Duke  of  Glouces- 
ter Street."  It  was  about  a  mile  in  length,  and 
on  it  stood  most  of  the  principal  houses,  although 
"  The  Governor's  Palace,"  as  his  house  was  called, 
was  on  a  side  street  further  north.  Here  stood 
the  famous  Bruton  Parish  Church,  built  of  bricks 
imported  from  England.  It  still  stands  and  is 
to-day  one  of  the  leading  churches  of  the  place. 


220 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


It  has  three  historical  communion  services.  One 
was  used  by  the  old  Jamestown  church,  one  was 
given  to  it  in  the  time  of  Queen  Anne,  and  the 
other  in  the  reign  of  George  III.  The  baptismal 
font  is  the  very  one  used  in  the  Jamestown 
church,  at  the  baptism  of  Pocahontas. 

Here,  at  one   end  of  the  Duke  of  Gloucester 


BRUTON  PARISH 
CHURCH  *|          I 

CEMETERY!  1 

RALEIGH  TAVERN 

a 

Duke  of  Gloucester  Street 

POWDER  HORN 


O 


WILLIAMSBURG    IN    COLONIAL   DAYS 


Street,  at  the  junction  of  the  two  roads  which 
lead  to  the  James  River  and  to  Yorktown,  stood 
the  house  of  Burgesses,  where  Patrick  Henry 
delivered  his  speech  against  the  Stamp  Act. 
Here  stood  the  Raleigh  Tavern,  with  its  "  Apollo 
Hall,"  where  the  patriots  of  the  Revolution  were 
accustomed  to  meet  and  discuss  their  plans. 
Here,  too,  stood  the  strong  brick  "  Powder  Horn," 
from  which  Governor  Dun  more  took  the  powder 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON  221 

to  send  aboard  a  British  vessel.*  And  here  at 
the  other  end  of  The  Duke  of  Gloucester  Street, 
at  the  junction  of  the  two  roads  from  Richmond 
and  Jamestown,  stood,  where  still  they  stand,  the 
buildings  for  the  College  of  William  and  Mary. 

It  was  while  Jefferson  was  at  William  and 
Mary  College  that  Patrick  Henry  made  his 
famous  speech.  The  young  student  was  deeply 
stirred  by  the  eloquence  of  the  orator.  When 
he  was  an  old  man,  after  he  had  served  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  and  had  retired  to 
private  life  in  his  beautiful  home  at  Monticello, 
Jefferson  used  to  delight  in  telling  the  story  of 
the  eventful  day  when  Patrick  Henry  thrilled  the 
members  of  the  House.  "  Caesar  had  his  Brutus, 
Charles  the  First  his  Cromwell,  and  George  the 
Third."  .  .  .  "  Treason!  treason!"  shouted  the 
loyalists.  It  was  a  breathless  moment.  Paus- 
ing an  instant,  and  looking  around  him  with  the 
utmost  coolness,  he  added  in  calm  and  quiet 

*  This  happened  two  days  alter  the  battle  of  Lexington,  Mass. 
In  the  middle  of  the  night  a  company  of  marines  landed  from  the 
schooner  Magdalen,  which  was  anchored  in  the  river  near  Wil- 
liamsburg.  Silently  they  loaded  Governor  Dunmore's  wagon  with 
fifteen  half-barrels  of  gunpowder,  and  before  morning  it  was 
stored  away  on  board  the  vessel.  The  people  of  Virginia  were 
very  indignant  when  they  learned  of  the  seizure  of  the  gunpow- 
der. A  company  was  formed  which  marched  to  Williamsburg" 
and  compelled  the  governor  to  pay  for  the  powder  which  he  had 
turned  over  to  the  British. 


222  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

tones, — "  may  profit  by  their  example.      If  this 
be  treason,  make  the  most  of  it." 

Williamsburg  was  famous  not  only  for  law 
and  scholarship,  but  for  culture  and  refinement. 
Here  Jefferson  made  the  acquaintance  of  Gov- 
ernor Francis  Fauquier.  The  Governor  was  ex- 
ceedingly fond  of  music,  and  once  a  week  he  had 


MONTICELLO,    JEFFERSON'S    HOME 

a  party  at  his  fine,  large  house.  His  guests  were 
invited  to  bring  their  instruments.  Jefferson, 
who  was  a  great  favorite  with  the  Governor, 
was  a  skillful  player  on  the  violin  and  a  popular 
guest  at  these  gatherings. 

When  he  was  twenty-four  years  old,  he  was 
admitted  to  the  bar.  At  that  time  he  had  al- 
ready taken  upon  himself  the  management  of  his 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON  223 

father's  estate,  and  had  been  elected  justice  of 
the  peace.  A  few  years  later  he  built  his  new 
house  on  the  summit  of  a  high  hill,  about  three 
miles  from  Charlottesville.  This  place  he  called 
"  Monticello,"  which  means  a  small  mountain. 
For  more  than  fifty  years  and  until  his  death, 
this  was  his  home  and  the  home  of  a  happy 
family. 

Monticello  is  a  beautiful  spot.  The  house 
which  Jefferson  built  more  than  a  hundred  and 
thirty  years  ago  still  stands  just  as  he  left  it  at 
his  death,  though  three-quarters  of  a  century  have 
passed.  Some  of  the  furniture  purchased  and 
carried  there  during  his  lifetime  is  there  to-day. 
The  large,  low,  mostly  one-story  house  stands  in 
the  middle  of  a  wide  lawn  of  many  acres,  which 
is  entirely  surrounded  by  a  thick  forest  of  native 
trees.  The  land  slopes  down  from  the  mansion 
on  three  sides  ;  on  the  south  side  is  a  large,  nearly 
level  lawn,  which  was  made  with  great  labor,  by 
Jefferson's  orders. 

Jefferson  built  subways  leading  from  the  cellar 
underground  to  the  surface  a  long  distance  down 
the  hill.  During  the  War  of  the  Revolution, 
when  Colonel  Tarleton  and  his  legion  swept 
through  the  Carolinas  and  northward  into  Vir- 
ginia, he  made  an  attempt  to  capture  Jefferson, 
then  Governor  of  Virginia.  The  Governor  was 


224  AMERICAN    PIONEERS 

forewarned,  just  in  time.  As  Tarleton's  advance 
cavalry  galloped  up  to  the  north  front  of  Monti- 
cello,  the  Governor  passed  through  his  subway 
to  the  road  on  the  east  front,  mounted  his  horse, 
and  without  being  seen  by  Tarleton's  men  rode 
through  the  woods  to  the  house  of  Edward  Car- 
ter, and  thus  escaped  capture. 

Soon  after  Jefferson's  marriage,  the  dispute 
with  England  about  her  right  to  tax  the  Ameri- 
can Colonies  without  their  consent  became  so 
bitter  that  it  was  evident  that  war  must  soon 
follow.  In  March,  1775,  Patrick  Henry  made 
his  speech,  so  familiar  to  all,  in  St.  John's  Church 
in  Richmond,  the  burden  of  which  was  "  We 
must  fight "  ;  but  it  was  more  than  a  year  after 
that  before  the  Congress  was  ready  to  issue  its 
declaration  of  independence. 

On  the  seventh  of  June,  1776,  Richard  Henry 
Lee,  the  oldest  member  of  the  Virginia  delegates, 
moved  that  "  Congress  should  declare  that  these 
United  States  are,  and  of  right  ought  to  be,  free 
and  independent  states  .  .  .  and  that  a  confeder- 
ation be  formed  to  bind  the  colonies  together." 
This  motion  was  thoroughly  debated  in  the  Con- 
gress and  a  committee  of  five  was  appointed  to 
draft  the  resolution,  or  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence. Jefferson  was  chairman  of  this  commit- 
tee, and  he  himself  alone  wrote  the  first  draft. 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON 


225 


It  was  slightly  changed,  and  the  declaration  that 
the  colonies  were  independent  of  British  rule  was 
adopted  on  the  second  of  July. 


From  the  painting  by  Chappel 

JEFFERSON    READING    TO    THE    COMMITTEE    THE    FIRST    DRAFT 
OF   THE   DECLARATION 

Then  followed  a  sharp  and  critical  discussion 
of  every  sentence  of  the  entire  document  as  sub- 
mitted   by  Jefferson's  committee.      With    some 
changes  the  "Declaration"  was  finally  adopted, 
15 


226  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

July  4th,  1776.  The  turning  point  was  on  the 
second  of  July.  John  Adams,  who  was  the  prin- 
cipal defender  of  the  motion  throughout  the 
debate,  thought  that  the  second  would  be  the 
day  celebrated ;  but,  as  the  entire  "  Declaration  " 
was  passed  on  the  fourth,  that  day  has  been 
observed  ever  since  as  the  anniversary  day. 

In  writing  to  his  wife,  John  Adams  said,  "The 
second  of  July,  1776,  will  be  the  most  memorable 
epoch  in  the  history  of  America.  I  am  apt  to 
believe  that  it  will  be  celebrated  by  succeeding 
generations  as  the  great  Anniversary  Festival. 
It  ought  to  be  commemorated  as  the  day  of 
deliverance,  by  solemn  acts  of  devotion  to  God 
Almighty.  It  ought  to  be  solemnized  with  pomp 
and  parade,  with  shows,  games,  sports,  bells,  bon- 
fires, and  illuminations,  from  one  end  of  the  con- 
tinent to  the  other." 

Jefferson  was  noted  for  many  public  acts  be- 
sides writing  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
For  nearly  ten  years  after  its  passage  he  devoted 
himself  to  changing  the  old  Colonial  laws  of  his 
state  so  that  they  would  conform  to  the  beliefs 
and  aims  of  the  new  Republic.  Hitherto  Vir- 
ginia had  maintained  a  State  Church  which  was 
supported  by  a  tax  levied  upon  tax-payers.  All 
people  were  expected  to  attend  the  Established 
Church,  and  preachers  of  other  denominations 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON  22/ 

who  attempted  to  hold  services  were  fined  and 
imprisoned.  In  1776,  Jefferson  succeeded  in 
having  a  bill  passed  which  allowed  men  to  wor- 
ship as  they  thought  best,  whether  in  the  State 
Church  or  in  dissenting  churches.  Nine  years 
later,  a  law  was  enacted  which  gave  complete 
religious  freedom  throughout  the  State.  Jeffer- 
son regarded  this  bill  as  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant triumphs  of  his 
life  and  mentioned 
it  in  his  epitaph  for 

.  ,  THE   AUTOGRAPH    OF   JEFFERSON 

the  monument  that 

should  mark  his  grave.  James  Madison,  also, 
threw  the  whole  force  of  his  power  as  an  orator 
and  statesman  in  aiding  Jefferson  in  the  passage 
of  this  bill. 

Jefferson  was  instrumental  also  in  abolishing 
the  law  of  entail  and  primogeniture.  This  old 
English  law  gave  to  the  eldest  son  all  the  lands 
belonging  to  the  father  at  the  time  of  his  death  ; 
and  these  lands  could  not  be  sold,  but  must  pass 
from  father  to  son.  It  belonged  to  a  system  of 
aristocracy,  and  Jefferson  considered  that  it  had 
no  place  in  the  laws  of  a  republic.  By  the  new 
statute,  Virginians  could  dispose  of  their  lands  as 
they  thought  fit. 

Jefferson  served  his  state  as  a  member  of  the 
House  of  Burgesses,  was  delegate  to  the  Conti- 


228  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

nental  Congress,  Governor  of  Virginia,  Minister 
to  France,  Secretary  of  State  in  President 
Washington's  cabinet,  Vice-President  with  John 
Adams,  and  later,  for  two  terms  President  of  the 
United  States.  In  1809  ne  retired  from  the 
Presidency  and  was  succeeded  by  James  Madison, 
his  lifelong  friend. 

For  seventeen  years  after  his  withdrawal  from 


THE   UNIVERSITY   OF   VIRGINIA   AT    THE    TIME    OF    JEFFERSON  S    DEATH 

political  life,  Jefferson  devoted  himself  to  the 
improvement  of  his  five  thousand  acres  of  Vir- 
ginia land,  and  to  the  founding  of  the  University 
of  Virginia,  at  Charlottesville.  The  plan  and 
the  course  of  study  were  almost  entirely  the 
product  of  Jefferson's  active  brain.  He  spent  a 
great  deal  of  time  for  many  years  in  superin- 
tending the  laying  out  of  the  grounds  and  the 
erection  of  the  buildings  of  this  important  insti- 
tution. 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON  22Q 

Jefferson  lived  to  be  more  than  fourscore 
years  of  age.  The  time  of  his  death  was  singu- 
lar, in  that  it  occurred  on  the  fiftieth  anniversary 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  on  the 
same  day  that  John  Adams,  his  predecessor  in 
the  Presidency  died.  Jefferson  desired  to  live  to 
see  the  fourth  of  July,  and  his  wish  was  granted. 
A  little  while  after  midnight  he  enquired,  "  Is  it 
the  Fourth?"  and  being  told  that  it  was,  he 
seemed  to  be  content.  He  was  buried  near  the 
summit  of  Monticello.  A  plain  granite  shaft, 
eight  feet  high,  marks  his  last  resting  place. 
On  it  is  chiseled  the  following,  which  was  found 
among  his  papers,  in  his  own  hand-writing  : 

Here  was  buried 

THOMAS   JEFFERSON 

Author  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 

Of  the  Statute  of  Virginia  for  Religious  Freedom, 

And  Father  of  the  University  of  Virginia. 


CHAPTER   XX 


JAMES  MADISON 
1751-1836 


JAMES    MADISON 


JAMES  MADISON  was 
the  "  Father  of  the  Con- 
stitution "  and  a  fit  successor 
in  the  Presidency  to  the  au- 
thor of  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence. Both  men  were 
pioneers  of  governmental  re- 
form. Both  were  Virginians, 
Jefferson  the  elder  by  eight 
years.  Each  became  President 
of  the  United  States — Jefferson  the  third,  and 
Madison  the  fourth.  Each  served  two  terms. 
Each  lived  to  be  more  than  fourscore  years  old. 
Each  had  a  beautiful  Virginia  home — Jefferson's 
at  Monticello,  in  the  interior  of  the  State,  and 
Madison's  at  Montpellier,  forty  or  fifty  miles 
farther  east. 

Madison  himself  says  of  his  ancestors  that  they 
"  were  not  among  the  most  wealthy  of  the  coun- 
try, but  in  independent  and  comfortable  circum- 


JAMES   MADISON  231 

stances."  His  first  ancestor  in  America  was 
John,  who  obtained  a  tract  of  land  on  Chesapeake 
Bay,  north  of  the  York  River.  James  was  the 
eldest  of  seven  children.  His  early  teacher  was  a 
Scotchman.  Later  he  finished  his  studies  pre- 
paratory for  college  under  the  instruction  of  the 
clergyman  of  the  parish.  When  he  was  eighteen 
years  old,  he  was  sent  to  Princeton  for  his  college 
training.  He  was  graduated  in  1772,  studied 
law,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar. 

Troublous  times  were  close  at  hand,  and  James 
Madison  was  a  sturdy  patriot.  He  ardently 
adopted  the  cause  of  the  Colonies  in  their  strug- 
gles with  the  British  Parliament  and  joined  hands 
with  Washington,  Henry,  and  Jefferson.  In 
1776  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  convention  that 
planned  the  Virginia  State  Constitution.  Then 
he  was  a  member  of  the  Continental  Congress. 
Afterwards,  in  1787,  came  the  great  Federal 
Convention  that  framed  the  United  States  Con- 
stitution, which  has  now  been  the  supreme  law 
of  our  country  for  more  than  a  century. 

Madison  and  Washington  were  among  the 
delegates  from  Virginia.  Washington  was  chosen 
president  of  the  Convention.  Before  the  Con- 
vention met,  Madison  had  prepared  a  proposed 
outline  of  the  Constitution  and  had  submitted  it 
to  the  other  members  from  Virginia.  This  was 


232 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


known  as  the  /'Virginia  plan."  It  proposed  an 
entirely  new  national  government  with  three  dis- 
tinct branches.  The  legislative  department  was 


INDEPENDENCE    HALL,    PHILADELPHIA,    WHERE     THE    DECLARATION    OF 
INDEPENDENCE  AND    THE   CONSTITUTION   WERE    SIGNED 

to  make  the  laws  ;  the  executive,  to  enforce  the 
laws;  and  the  judicial,  to  interpret  them.  'This 
plan  was  very  similar  to  that  which  several  of 
the  states  had  adopted  for  their  state  govern- 


JAMES   MADISON  233 

ment.  If  it  were  accepted,  it  would  make  two 
complete  systems  of  law,  one  for  the  state  and 
the  other  for  the  nation,  moving  one  within  the 
other.  One  writer  says  of  it,  "  It  was  one  of  the 
longest  reaches  of  constructive  statesmanship 
ever  known  in  the  world,  and  the  credit  of  it  is 
due  to  Madison  more  than  to  any  other  one  man." 

The  Constitution  was  adopted  by  the  Conven- 
tion. Whatever  faults  it  may  have  had,  it  has 
carried  the  country  forward  with  a  rapid  pace 
for  more  than  one  hundred  years  of  great  pros- 
perity, freedom,  and  happiness.  Gladstone,  the 
great  English  statesman,  said  of  it,  "  It  is  the 
most  wonderful  work  ever  struck  off  at  a  given 
time  by  the  brain  and  purpose  of  man." 

On  the  chair  in  which  Washington  sat  as 
President  of  the  Convention  was  carved  a  sun 
upon  the  horizon  with  its  diverging  rays  shoot- 
ing upward.  After  the  Constitution  had  been 
adopted,  and  while  the  members  were  gathered 
about  the  raised  platform,  waiting  their  turn  to 
sign  their  names,  Benjamin  Franklin,  who  was 
standing  near  Mr.  Madison,  rubbing  the  glasses 
of  his  spectacles,  said  to  him,  "  I  believe  paint- 
ers have  found  it  difficult  to  tell  whether  a  paint- 
ing of  the  sun  upon  the  horizon  is  intended  to 
represent  a  rising  or  a  setting  sun.  I  have  often, 
during  our  debates  here,  looked  upon  that  sun 


234 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


carved  on  the  back  of  the  President's  chair,  and 
wondered  whether  it  represented  a  setting  or  a 
rising  sun.  But  now  at  length  I  have  the  hap- 
piness to  know  that  the  sun  of  America  is  rising 
and  not  setting." 

The  Constitution  was  *agreed   to  by  the  Con- 
gress, but  it  could   not  become  the  law  of  the 

country  until  it 
had  been  accepted 
by  the  several 
states.  Now  came 
the  severest  bat- 
tle of  all.  One 
state  after  another 
adopted  it.  Three 
ratified  it  that 
G  same  year — Dela- 


CHAIR  AND  TABLE  USED  BY  WASHING 
TON  AS  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  FEDERAL 
CONVENTION 


vania,  and  New 
Jersey  ;  and  before  the  first  of  the  next  June 
five  more — Georgia,  Connecticut,  Massachusetts, 
Maryland,  and  South  Carolina — also  had  adopted 
it.  One  of  its  provisions  was  that  it  should  go 
into  effect  for  the  states  approving  it  as  soon  as 
nine  had  ratified  it.  Eight  had  already  accepted 
it,  and  only  one  more  was  needed  to  make  the 
Constitution  the  law  of  these  nine  United  States 
of  America. 


JAMES   MADISON  235 

Just  at  this  time  Virginia  called  a  convention 
to  ratify  or  reject  the  Constitution.  Its  enemies 
made  every  effort  to  prevent  its  adoption.  It 
was  known  that  North  Carolina  and  Rhode 
Island  were  opposed.  It  was  hoped  that  New 
York  and  New  Hampshire  would  vote  against 
it,  especially  if  Virginia  refused  to  give  it  her 
support.  Hence  every  effort  was  made  to  elect 
delegates  to  the  Virginia  Convention  who  were 
opposed  to  its  adoption.  Naturally  Madison 
wished  to  be  in  that  convention.  He  had  been 
foremost  in  making  the  Constitution,  and  now  it 
was  on  trial.  Should  it  be  accepted  by  his  own 
state,  its  success  was  assured.  Should  Virginia 
refuse  its  support,  it  would  probably  fail. 

A  little  while  before  the  time  for  electing  dele- 
gates to  this  Virginia  Convention,  a  new  difficulty 
appeared  that  made  it  doubtful  if  Madison  could 
be  elected.  There  was  in  the  lower  end  of  the 
county  an  eccentric  'preacher,  named  John  Le- 
land,  who  was  opposed  to  the  Constitution.  He 
was  a  rough,  uneducated  man  with  a  strong  and 
vigorous  mind  and  an  iron  will.  During  the 
war  he  had  been  a  soldier  under  Washington, 
and  later  he  had  been  imprisoned  for  preaching 
without  a  license.  He  had  great  influence  with 
the  people  ;  and  "  It  was  no  vain  boast,"  says  a 
recent  writer,  "  to  say  that  such  a  man  as  John 


AMERICAN    PIONEERS 


Leland  would  not  only  carry  the  members  of  his 
church  and  his  whole  neighborhood,  but  also  all 
the  middle-class  people  of  Orange  County,  even 
in  sight  of  Montpellier." 

Mr.  Madison  saw  his  danger  and  determined 
to  have  an  interview  with  him.  So,  one  morn- 
ing, he  mounted  his  horse  and  rode  toward  the 
lower  end  of  the  county  to  find  Leland.  About 

noon  he  .  met 
him,  riding  up 
the  turnpike. 
Still  sitting  on 
their  horses 
they  discussed 
until  they  were 
tired  the  only 
question  then 
talked  about  in 

MADISON  S    HOME   AT    MONTPELLIKR  .      . 

Virginia.   They 

dismounted,  tied  their  horses  to  the  swinging 
limbs  of  a  giant  oak,  and  sat  down  to  argue  the 
question  further.  Leland  was  opposed  to  the 
Constitution  because  he  thought  that  it  would 
form  a  powerful  government  that  would  be  con- 
trolled by  the  wealthy  people,  and  would  soon 
take  away  the  liberties  of  the  common  people. 
He,  himself,  had  fought  and  bled  to  be  freed 
from  such  a  government.  By  such  a  government 


JAMES    MADISON  237 

he  had  been  forbidden  to  preach  as  he  thought 
was  right  and  had  been  cast  into  a  dungeon. 

Madison  reminded  him  that  he  himself  had 
contended  in  the  State  legislature  for  full  reli- 
gious liberty  ;  that  his  father  had  led  the  Orange 
County  militia  in  the  Revolution  ;  and  that  his 
brother  William,  with  him,  had  poured  hot  shot 
into  the  lines  of  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown.  He 
presented  his  arguments  with  great  skill,  and 
they  talked  until  the  * 

sun  was   lost  behind    /^^     ^  ^^6^  ^ 
the     western      hills. 

THE   AUTOGRAPH   OF    MADISON 

Then  Leland  jumped 

up  from  his  seat,  extended  his  hand,  and  said, 

"  Mr.  Madison,  I  will  vote  for  you." 

"Then,"  replied  Madison,  "you  will  elect  me." 
The  day  of  election  came.  Leland  and  his 
followers  went  to  the  polls  and  voted  to  a  man 
for  Madison.  He  was  elected,  and  his  eloquence 
and  his  masterly  arguments  turned  the  conven- 
tion in  favor  of  the  Constitution,  in  spite  of  the 
brilliant  oratory  of  Patrick  Henry.  These  two 
men  were  the  most  active  debaters  upon  the 
floor  of  the  convention  and  made  the  longest 
speeches.  In  favor  of  the  Constitution,  Madison 
spoke  more  than  fifty  times,  and  against  it  Henry 
spoke  more  than  thirty  times. 

On  the  26th  of  June  the  vote  was  taken  and 


238 


AMERICAN    PIONEERS 


Virginia  adopted  the  Constitution.  Five  days 
before,  New  Hampshire  had  passed  the  same 
vote.  A  month  later  New  'York  followed,  and 
measures  were  taken  to  start  the  new  government 
under  the  Constitution.  It  was  more  than  a  year 
later,  and  not  until  after  the  new  nation  had 
begun  its  course,  that  the  "  Old  North  State  " 

came  into  line.  Finally,  lit- 
tle Rhode  Island  adopted 
it,  and  the  union  of  the 
thirteen  colonies  was  ac- 
complished. 

The  country  recognized 
the  ability  and  the  patriot- 
ism of  James  Madison  and 
rewarded  him  for  his  years 
of  faithful  work  for  her 
interests.  He  was  a  lead- 
ing member  of  Congress  for  eight  years  during 
the  first  four  Congresses,  eight  years  Secretary 
of  State  under  Jefferson,  and  eight  years  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States.  For  nearly  twenty 
years  after  retiring  from  the  Presidency  he  lived 
a  quiet  but  useful  life  at  his  beautiful  home 
at  Montpellier,  greatly  beloved  by  the  entire 
people. 


THE  GREAT  SEAL  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES.  ADOPTED 
IN  1782 


CHAPTER  XXI 

ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 
1809-1865 

A  BRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  grandfather;  an- 
other Abraham  Lincoln,  went  to  Kentucky 
in  the  early  pioneer  days  because  his  friend, 
Daniel  Boone,  had  gone  there.  He  had  consider- 
able property  for  those  times,  and  he  bought  sev 
eral  large  tracts  of  land.  One  day  while  at  work 
in  the  clearing  with  his  three  boys,  he  was  killed 
by  an  Indian.  The  eldest  boy,  Mordecai,  ran  to 
the  house.  The  second  boy  hurried  to  the  fort 
for  help,  while  the  youngest,  a  little  fellow  only 
ten  years  old,  was  left  in  the  field.  The  Indian 
was  just  staoping  to  pick  him  up,  when  a  rifle 
shot  came  whizzing  through  the  air.  Mordecai 
was  a  true  marksman.  The  bullet  hit  the  Indian 
in  the  breast,  and  the  little  brother  was  saved. 

This  ten  year  old  boy — his  name  was  Thomas 

—now  had  to  fight  his  own  way  in  the  world.     He 

did  whatever  odd  jobs  he  could  for  the  settlers, 

and  finally  learned  the  carpenter's  trade.     He 

became   known  as  a  good  workman,  to  be  sure, 


240 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


but  one  who  had  very  little  push  or  ambition. 
Still  in  one  way  or  another,  he  got  together 
money  enough  to  buy  a  farm.  Of  course  he  did 
not  pay  very  much  for  it,  for  land  was  cheap  ;  but 
we  must  remember  that  then  it  was  harder  to  find 

_____ chances  to  earn  one 

dollar  in  money 
than  it  is  to  make 
ten  dollars  now. 

He  built  a  little 
log  cabin  of  one 
room,  fourteen  feet 
square.  It  had  a 
chimney,  a  door, 
and  a  window.  Its 
only  furniture  was 
what  he  had  made 
himself.  The  cabin 
was  like  hundreds 
of  others  in  Ken- 
tucky. It  was  no 
better,  no  worse. 

To  this  cheerless  cabin  he  brought  his  young 
wife  ;  and  here  his  three  children  were  born,  two 
boys  and  a  girl.  One  boy  died  when  a 'baby. 
The  other  was  Abraham,  the  hero  of  our  story. 

Of  Lincoln's  early  life  we  know  very  little.    He 
almost  never  spoke  of  it  himself,  and  only  a  few 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN  241 

stories  have  come  down  to  us.  One  of  them  is 
of  his  narrow  escape  from  drowning.  He  and  a 
friend  went  across  a  creek  to  hunt  partridges. 
A  narrow  log  bridged  the  stream,  which  was 
swollen  by  the  rain.  Abraham  fell  in  and  could 
not  swim  ;  neither  could  his  friend,  but  the  latter 
got  a  long  pole  and  finally  succeeded  in  pulling 
the  half-drowned  boy  to  shore.  There  he  rolled 
him  and  pounded  him  until  he  was  himself  again. 

"  Then  a  new  difficulty  confronted  us,"  said 
this  friend  when  telling  the  story  afterwards. 
"  If  our  mothers  discovered  our  wet  clothes,  they 
would  whip  us.  This  we  dreaded  from  experi- 
ence and  determined  to  avoid.  It  was  June,  the 
sun  was  very  warm,  and  we  soon  dried  our  cloth- 
ing by  spreading  it  on  the  rocks  about  us.  We 
promised  never  to  tell  the  story,  and  I  never  did 
until  after  Lincoln's  death." 

When  Abraham  was  seven  years  old,  his  father 
moved  across  the  Ohio  River  into  Indiana.  All 
the  household  goods  were  carried  on  the  backs 
of  two  horses.  When  the  family  reached  their 
new  farm,  even  the  seven-year-old  boy  was  given 
an  axe  to  help  in  clearing  the  land.  They  built 
a  little  shed  for  their  first  home.  Only  three 
sides  and  the  top  were  enclosed  ;  the  other  was 
entirely  open  to  the  weather.  In  this  shelter  the 
family  lived  not  only  through  the  summer,  but 

16 


242     .  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

through  the  next  winter.  Just  imagine  all  the 
cold  and  suffering  they  must  have  endured  in 
those  long,  bleak  months  ! 

By  the  next  spring  Thomas  Lincoln  had  built 
a  cabin,  but  it  was  only  a  little  better  than  the 
camp  house.  To  be  sure  it  had  four  sides  and 
a  loft ;  but  there  was  no  floor,  no  glass,  not  even 
oiled  paper  at  the  windows,  and  the  doorway 
was  without  a  door.  The  furniture  which  they 
had  made  themselves  was  as  rude  as  the  house. 
Down  stairs  a  rough,  uncomfortable  bed  was 
fastened  to  the  wall,  but  Abraham  slept  on  a  pile 
of  leaves  in  the  loft. 

Mrs.  Lincoln  died  not  many  years  after  she 
moved  to  Indiana,  and  the  next  year  was  a  ter- 
rible time  for  Thomas  Lincoln  and  his  little 
family.  Then  he  went  to  Kentucky,  and  when 
he  returned  he  brought  home  a  new  mother  for 
his  children.  A  better  day  began  immediately 
in  the  little  log  cabin.  This  Mrs.  Lincoln  was  a 
woman  of  action  and  strong  character,  and  she 
had  a  heart  full  of  love.  She  had  three  children 
of  her  own,  but  she  had  love  enough  to  spare 
for  the  boy  and  the  girl  she  found  in  her  new 
Indiana  home.  Her  thoughtfulness  and  sym- 
pathy had  a  great  deal  to  do  in  making  Abraham 
the  great  man  he  was. 

He  loved  his  step-mother  in  return  and  was 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 


243 


always  kind  to  her.  Long  years  afterwards, 
when  he  was  dead  and  she  was  a  very  old  woman, 
she  said,  "  Abe  was  a  good  boy,  and  I  can  say 
what  scarcely  one  woman — a  mother — can  say  in 
a  thousand.  Abe  never  gave  me  a  cross  word 
or  look  and  never 
refused,  in  fact  or 
appearance,  to  do 
anything  I  re- 
quested him.  He 
was  a  dutiful  son 
to  me  always.  I 
think  he  loved  me 
truly."  His  mother 
was  not  the  only 
one  who  loved 
Abraham  Lincoln. 
Few  ever  had  any 
dealings  with  him 
who  did  not  honor 
and  love  him. 

As  he  grew  older 
he  became  very  tall  and  strong.  No  one  could 
lift  more  or  use  the  axe  to  greater  advantage 
than  he.  "'My  !  how  he  could  chop  !"  said  his 
cousin.  "  His  axe  would  flash  and  bite  into  a 
sugar  tree  or  sycamore,  and  down  it  would  come. 
If  you  heard  him  felling  a  tree  in  a  clearing,  you 


SARAH  BUSH  LINCOLN,  ABRAHAM 
LINCOLN'S  STEP-MOTHER 


244  AMERICAN    PIONEERS 


would  say  that  three  men  were  at  work  by  the 
way  the  tree  fell." 

Still  it  was  not  his  strength  alone  that  made 
him  in  great  demand  among  the  farmers.  His 
kindness  to  all,  animals  as  well  as  children,  and 
his  willingness  to  do  anything  and  everything, 
made  him  a  welcome  member  of  any  family. 
The  farmers  sometimes  complained  that  he 
wasted  his  time  and  that  of  the  other  hands,  be- 
cause he  liked  to  get  up  on  a  stump  and  make 
speeches  on  all  sorts  of  subjects  ;  but  he  worked 
so  fast  and  to  such  good  purpose  when  he  did 
work,  that  he  more  than  made  up  for  this  idle 
time.  In  fact,  his  employers  themselves  rather 
enjoyed  the  speeches  and  admired  him  for  his 
ability. 

Lincoln's  honesty  was  another  trait  that  won 
him  the  respect  of  his  neighbors  and  the  name 
"honest  Abe."  At  one  time,  while  he  was  serv- 
ing as  a  clerk  in  a  store,  he  found  that  he  had 
charged  a  customer  six  and  a  quarter  cents  too 
much.  That  night  after  the  store  was  closed,  he 
walked  three  miles  to  return  the  money.  Later 
in  life,  when  he  failed  in  business,  he  was  owing 
eleven  hundred  dollars,  a  large  sum  for  that  time 
and  place.  He  jokingly  called  it  the  "national 
debt  "  ;  though  he  said,  "  It  was  the  greatest 
obstacle  I  ever  met  in  life.  I  could  not  earn  the 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


245 


money  except  by  labor,  and  to  earn  by  labor 
eleven  hundred  dollars  besides  my  living  seemed 
the  work  of  a  life-time."  It  was  fifteen  years 
before  the  debt  was  paid,  but 
then  it  was  paid  to  the  last 
cent.  t 

Abraham  Lincoln's  school 
days  amounted  to  about  a 
year  all  told.  He  was  rather 
slow,  but  he  mastered  every 
lesson.  He  became  the  best 
speller  in  the  county,  and 
was  barred  out  of  the  spelling 
matches  because  nobody  else 
had  a  chance  of  winning  if  he 
was  in  the  line.  His  educa- 
tion was  obtained  from 
books,  not  from  schools.  He 
had  a  few  choice  volumes 
of  his  own  ;  the  Bible, 
"  Robinson  Crusoe," 
"  Pilgrim's  Progress," 

and  tWO  or  three  Others.     COSTUME  ACTUALLY  WORN  BY  A 

^p,  ,  J  J  MATRON    OF     ILLINOIS    IN    THE 

1  hese  he  read  and   re-      DAYS  OF  LINCOLN>S  YOUTH 
read  until  he  knew  them 

by  heart.  He  borrowed  everything  readable  in 
the  neighborhood  for  miles  around.  When  he 
could  not  get  anything  else,  he  read  the  die- 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

/ 

tionary  and  apparently  found  it  as  interesting  as 
a  story. 

When  in  his  reading  of  a  borrowed  book  he 
came  across  a  passage  that  seemed  to  him  to  be 
worth  remembering,  he  copied  it  in  a  blank  book. 
In  his  spare  moments,  when  not  reading,  he  would 
write  compositions  and  work  out  examples  in 
arithmetic.  Paper  was  too  scarce  to  be  wasted  ; 
so  he  did  his  sums  and  wrote  his  compositions 
on  the  back  of  the  wooden  fire-shovel,  and  when 
it  was  covered  he  shaved  it  off  and  covered  it 
again. 

His  father  did  not  always  sympathize  with  his 
desire  to  learn,  but  his  mother  arranged  matters 
so  that  his  time  was  his  own  when  his  day's  work 
was  done.  His  cousin  said,  "When  Abe  and  I 
returned  to  the  house  from  work  he  would  go  to 
the  cupboard,  snatch  a  piece  of  corn  bread,  take 
down  a  book,  sit  down,  cock  his.  legs  up  as  high 
as  his  head  and  read."  His  mother  took  care 
that  he  was  not  disturbed  and  "  let  him  read  on," 
she  said,  "until  he  quit  of  his  own  accord." 

When  he  was  twenty-one,  Lincoln  started  out 
for  himself.  He  attempted  many  things — be- 
came store-keeper,  postmaster,  surveyor,  captain 
in  the  Black  Hawk  War,  member  of  the  State 
legislature  of  Illinois.  He  studied  law  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar.  All  this  time  he  kept  grow- 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


247 


ing  in  mental  ability  and  power  and  in  the  esti- 
mation of  his  associates. 

As  a  lawyer,  he  showed  the  same  traits  that 
had  given  him  in  his  youth  the  name  of  "  honest 
Abe  "  ;  and  many  stories  are  told  of  his  refusal 
to  have  anything  to  do  with  dishonest  cases. 
He  used  to  say  that  if  he  attempted  to  plead  a 
doubtful  case,  the  jury  would  see  that  he  thought 
,  ^)^^_____________________^._____^. 


LINCOLN  S    SURVEYING    INSTRUMENTS 

the  defendant  guilty,  and  convict  him.     Once  he 
refused  a  case  with  these  words : 

"  Yes,  there  is  no  reasonable  doubt  but  that  I 
can  gain  your  case  for  you.  I  can  get  a  whole 
neighborhood  at  loggerheads.  I  can  distress  a 
widowed  mother  and  six  fatherless  children,  and 
thereby  get  for  you  six  hundred  dollars,  which 
rightfully  belongs,  it  appears  to  me,  as  much  to 
them  as  it  does  to  you.  I  shall  not  take  your 
case,  but  I  will  give  a  little  advice  for  nothing. 
You  seem  a  sprightly,  energetic  man.  I  would 


248 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


advise  you  to  try  your  hand  at  making  six  hun- 
dred dollars  in  some  other  way." 

It  was  natural  for  one  who  had  such  ability  in 
public  speaking  and  such  a  large  circle  of  friends 
to  go  into  politics.  It  was  a  time  when  great 

questions  were 
disturbing  the 
nation.  The 
North  and  the 
South  were  dai- 
ly growing  far- 
ther and  far- 
ther apart  over 
the  question 
whether  it  was 
right  or  wrong 
to  keep  men 
and  women  in 
slavery.  Lin- 
coln was  born 
in  a  slave  state, 


LINCOLN    IN    1857 


were 


and     so 

his  father  and  mother,  but  they  had  become  op- 
posed to  slavery. 

Before  the  time  for  the  election  of  President 
came  around  in  1860,  Lincoln  had  grown  so 
prominent  in  the  West  that  his  fame  had  ex- 
tended all  over  the  nation.  He  was  nominated 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN  249 

for  President  with  great  enthusiasm,  and  was. 
elected  the  next  autumn.  His  election  caused 
tremendous  excitement  in  the  South.  South 
Carolina  immediately  declared  that  she  was  no 
longer  a  part  of  the  Union.  Other  states  fol- 
lowed her*  example,  and  the  terrible  War  of 
Secession  began.  It  was  a  war  between  people 
of  the  same  race,  a  war  between  brothers,  and 
no  war  can  be  so  bitter  or  so  sad  as  this. 

We  are  more  and  more  clearly  seeing,  as  the 
years  go  by,  how  fortunate  the  nation  was  to 
have  at  its  head  at  this  time  a  man  like  Abra- 
ham Lincoln.  When  it  was  first  suggested  to 
him  to  become  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency, 
he  did  not  wish  to.  He  felt  that  he  could  do 
better  work  for  the  nation  in  some  other  place  ; 
but  when  he  was  elected  he  was  not  one  to  shirk 
his  duties,  no  matter  how  hard  they  might  be. 
He  said  to  a  friend,  "  I  see  the  storm  coming 
and  I  know  that  God's  hand  is  in  it.  If  He  has 
a  place  and  work  for  me,  and  I  think  He  has,  I 
believe  I  am  ready.  I  am  nothing,  but  truth  is 
everything." 

Few  men  would  have  had  the  wisdom  and  pa- 
tience that  he  showed  when  there  was  so  much 
need  for  wisdom  and  patience  ;  but  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  soldiers  and  the  sorrows  of  the 
women  and  children  who  were  left  behind  in  the 


250  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

many  homes  both  North  and  South  nearly  wore 
him  out.  We  have  already  seen  how  his  kind 
heart  was  ever  touched  by  any  call  for  help  and 
sympathy.,  His  long  body  grew  thinner  and 
thinner,  and  the  sad  lines  about  his  mouth  grew 
sadder  and  sadder.  At  times  he  would  hardly 
eat  and  could  not  sleep,  and  then  it  seemed  to 
him  that  there  was  not  a  ray  of  light  anywhere 
in  all  the  darkness. 

A  beautiful  story  is  told  of  the  conversation 
Lincoln  had  with  a  company  of  ladies  who  had 

called  at  the  White  House. 
It  was  at  a  time  when  he 
THE  AUTOGRAPH  OF  LINCOLN  was  much  discouraged, and 
when  his  mouth  "  looked  as  if  it  never  smiled." 
Many  of  the  visitors  wished  that  they  had  not 
come.  Just  then  a  little  Quaker  lady  said  some- 
thing to  him,  and  at  once  a  great  change  came 
in  his  whole  appearance. 

"  Friend  Abraham,"  she  said,  "  thee  need  not 
think  thee  stands  alone.  We  are  all  praying  for 
thee.  The  hearts  of  the  people  are  behind  thee, 
and  thee  cannot  fail.  Yea,  as  no  man  was  ever 
loved  before  does  .this  people  love  thee.  •  Take 
comfort,  Friend  Abraham,  God  is  with  thee ;  the 
people  are  behind  thee." 

''I  know  it,"  he  answered;  and  his  voice 
trembled.  "  If  I  did  not  have  the  knowledge 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN  2$  I 

that  God  is  sustaining  and  will  sustain  me  until 
my  appointed  work  is  done,  I  could  not  live.  If 
I  did  not  believe  that  the  hearts  of  all  loyal  peo- 
ple were  with  me,  I  could  not  endure  it.  My 
heart  would  have  broken  long  ago. 

"  You  have  given  a  cup  of  cold  water  to  a  very 
thirsty  and  grateful  man.  I  knew  it  before.  I 
knew  that  good  men  and  women  were  praying 
for  me,  but  I  was  so  tired  I  had  almost  forgot- 
ten. God  bless  you  all." 

During  the  second  year  of  the  war,  President 
Lincoln  issued  his  Emancipation  Proclamation. 
The  story  of  this  proclamation  is  most  interest- 
ing. President  Lincoln  had  long  had  it  in  mind; 
and  though  some  people,  impatient  of  delay,  had 
urged  him  to  issue  it  at  an.  earlier  date,  he  and 
his  cabinet  felt  that  the  nation  as  a  whole  was 
not  ready  for.it.  He  decided  to  wait  until  the 
Union  army  had  gained  a  decisive  victory  ;  and 
although  the  proclamation  was  already  written, 
he  laid  it  away  in  his  desk  for  two  months. 

Finally  came  the  battle  of  Antietam.  When  the 
news  reached  Washington  that  General  Lee  had 
recrossed  the  Potomac,  President  Lincoln  called 
together  his  cabinet.  After  a  little  general  talk, 
he  told  them  that  he  had  just  been  reading  a 
book  by  Artemus  Ward  and  asked  them  to  lis- 
ten to  a  chapter  that  he  thought  was  especially 


252 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


funny.  The  cabinet  enjoyed  the  reading,  but 
wondered  why  he  had  summoned  them  at  such  a 
time  just  to  hear  a  chapter  from  an  amusing  book. 
Suddenly  the  President  grew  grave.  He  re- 
minded them  that  several  weeks  before  he  had 


THE   NATIONAL   CAPITOL   AT   WASHINGTON 

brought  an  important  matter  before  them,  and 
they  had  decided  that  it  would  be  best  to  lay 
it  aside  for  awhile.  "  When  Lee  crossed  the 
Potomac,  I  made  a  promise,"  he  said,  "  as  soon 
as  his  army  should  be  driven  out  of  Maryland, 
to  issue  a  proclamation  of  emancipation.  I  said 
nothing  to  any  one,  but  I  made  the  promise  to 
myself  and  to  my  Maker.  That  army  is  now 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN  253 

driven  out,  and  I  am  going  to  fulfill  that  promise. 
I  have  got  you  together  to  hear  what  I  have 
written  down." 

After  the  reading  the  cabinet  discussed  the 
proclamation,  and  a  few  slight  changes  were 
made.  That  afternoon  it  was  given  to  the  news- 
papers, and  the  next  morning  it  was  read  all  over 
the  United  States.  This  was  the  preliminary  pro- 
clamation, as  it  was  called,  and  was  really  a  warn- 
ing that  on  New  Year's  Day,  1863,  the  President 
would  declare  all  the  slaves  in  the  seceding  states 
free  men.  The  second  Emancipation  Proclama- 
tion was  signed  and  went  into  effect  on  that  day. 

President  Lincoln  had  been  standing  for  three 
hours  in  the  Blue  Room  of  the  White  House 
shaking  hands  with  the  long  line  of  visitors  who 
had  come  to  the  New  Year's  reception.  When 
the  last  visitor  had  gone,  he  went  into  his  office, 
took  out  the  Proclamation  and  signed  it.  His 
hand  was  so  stiff  and  tired  that  he  could  hardly 
hold  the  pen,  and  he  said  to  his  Secretary  of  State 
when  he  had  written  his  name  that  people  seeing 
it  would  think  that  he  hesitated,  when,  instead, 
his  whole  heart  was  in  it.  Two  or  three  years 
later,  when  the  war  was  ended,  an  amendment  to 
the  Constitution  was  adopted,  by  which  all  slaves 
were  freed  and  slavery  in  the  United  States  was 
prohibited. 


254 


AMERICAN    PIONKKKS 


Less  than  a  week  after   Lee's  final   surrender, 
President  Lincoln  was  shot   and  killed.      Imme- 


Augustus  Saint  Gaudens 

STATUE    OF    LINCOLN    IN    LINCOLN    PARK,    CHICAGO 

diately  joy  was  hushed  ;  sorrow  took  the  place 
of  gladness.  All  classes  of  people  mourned  for 
him.  The  North  and  the  South  together  lamented 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN  255 

his  loss.  All  his  energies  throughout  those  four 
years  of  war  had  been  used  to  defeat  the  Con- 
federates, yet  they  had  come  to  know  that  he  was 
their  true  friend. 

The  character  of  Abraham  Lincoln  is  in  many 
ways  worthy  of  imitation.  He  had  his  faults  as 
has  every  man,  but  they  have  been  almost  for- 
gotten because  his  virtues  were  so  many.  Lin- 
coln was  not  great  because  he  was  President. 
He  was  great  because  he  made  the  best  use  of 
every  opportunity  that  came  to  him. 


PIONEERS   OF   REFORM 

Education 
CHAPTER  XXII 

JOHN    HARVARD 
1607-1638 

of  the  men  who  first  came  to  Massa- 
chusetts had  been  graduated  from  En- 
glish universities.  They  had  hardly  built  their 
homes  and  planted  their  farms  in  the  new  land,  be- 
fore they  began  to  be  troubled  about  the  educa- 
tion of  their  children.  Because  their  lives  were  to 
be  spent  in  the  wilderness  was  no  reason  why  they 
should  grow  up  in  ignorance.  Perhaps  the  wilder- 
ness would  not  always  be  a  wilderness.  The  chil- 
dren and  the  children's  children  must  be  fitted  to 
perform  well  their  parts  in  the  life  that  was  to  come. 
To  send  the  boys  back  to  England  to  be  edu- 
cated was  unwise  in  many  ways.  Why  not  start  a 
college  in  America  ?  So  only  six  years  after  the 


JOHN   HARVARD  257 

coming  of  the  fathers,  a  sum  of  money  was  appro- 
priated. A  place  was  chosen  across  the  river 
from  Boston,  in  Newtown  ;  and  in  memory  of  the 
University  at  Cambridge,  England,  where  so 
many  of  the  Puritans  had  been  to  school,  the 
name  of  the  town  was  changed  to  Cambridge. 

For  one  reason  and  another  there  was  consider- 
able delay  in  getting  the  college  started.  The 
delay  might  have  been  much  longer,  if  a  certain 
young  man  had  not  arrived  in  Massachusetts 
about  this  time.  His  name  was  John  Harvard  ; 
and  until  recently  people  have  known  very  little 
about  him  except  that  he  was  a  minister,  that  he 
died,  and  that  he  left  money  to  the  new  college. 
Now,  scholars  have  discovered  that  his  mother 
lived  when  a  girl  in  a  house  that  is  still  stand- 
ing in  Stratford-on-Avon  not  far  from  William 
Shakespeare's  home  ;  and  that  his  father  was  a 
butcher  and  kept  an  inn  near  London  Bridge. 
We  know  that  he  had  nine  brothers  and  sisters, 
that  his  father  died  at  the  time  of  a  great  plague, 
that  John  Harvard  went  to  college,  that  he  mar- 
ried, and  that  he  came  to  America  ;  but  we  still 
have  to  guess  at  much  that  makes  the  story  of 
a  man's  life  interesting.  Yet  for  all  this,  John 
Harvard's  name  will  be  known  as  long  as  America 
shall  last. 

John  Harvard  settled  in  Charlestown  and  at 
17 


258 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


once  became  interested  in  all  that  concerned  the 
little  colony.  Among  the  things  that  were  much 
talked  about  was  the  new  college  over  in  Cam- 
bridge. People  soon  learned  to  love  the  young 
minister,  and  they  grieved  when  he  died  after 
being  in  America  only  a  little  over  a  year.  When 


INTERIOR    OF    THE    GRAMMAR    SCHOOL   AT    STRATFORD-ON-AVON, 
UNCHANGED    SINCE   THE    SIXTEENTH    CENTURY 

his  will  was  opened,  it  was  found  that  he  had 
left  his  library  and  half  his  property  to  the  col- 
lege at  Cambridge. 

The  library  was  a  very  small  one  compared  with 
even  the  private  libraries  of  the  present  day  ;  and 
the  gift  of  money  was  very  mean  compared  with 


JOHN   HARVARD 


259 


the  great  gifts  that  men  of  wealth  now  give  to  col- 
leges. Yet,  it  was  a  large  gift  for  that  time,  and 
it  was  enough  to  start  the  new  school.  The  col- 
ony showed  its  gratitude  by  voting  "  It  shall  bee 
called  Harvard  College."  A  president  was  ap- 
pointed, a  building  was  erected,  and  students 
began  to  at- 
tend. In  a 
few  years  the 
college  be- 
came so  well 
known  that 
people  over 
in  England 


money     From  tfie  original  engraving  by  Paul  Rev> 

tO     Carry     On  HARVARD  COLLEGE  IN  1720 

its  work,  and  even  sent  their  boys  to  Harvard  to 
be  educated. 

Harvard  students  of  to-day  would  consider 
college  life  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago  very 
strict  and  very  severe.  Perhaps  student  life  of 
to:day  will  seem  as  strange  to  Harvard  men  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years  hence.  The  first  build- 
ing had  only  two  chimneys,  one  in  the  kitchen 
and  one  in  the  hall  where  the  students  ate  and 
studied  when  it  was  too  cold  to  sit  in  their  rooms. 
All  the  students  were  obliged  to  eat  together  at 
"  commons,"  as  it  was  called.  The  food  was 


260  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

poor  and  badly  served,  and  the  stewards  were 
not  compelled  to  wash  up  the  dishes.  Breakfast 
was  ready  in  the  summer  time  at  sunrise,  and  in 
the  winter  as  soon  as  it  began  to  grow  light.  A 
small  can  of  muddy  coffee,  a  biscuit,  and  a  bit  of 
butter  made  up  the  breakfast  for  each  student. 
At  dinner  three  days  in  the  week  he  had  a 
pound  of  meat  boiled,  and  a  pound  of  roasted 
meat  the  remaining  days.  With  the  meat  were 
served  two  potatoes,  and,  on  boiling  days,  cab- 
bage, wild  peas,  and  dandelions,  in  their  season, 
and  some  kind  of  pudding.  The  upper-classmen 
were  served  first  and  then  the  lower-classmen. 
Often  times  the  latter's  share  was  pretty  small. 
Cider  was  the  only  thing  to  be  had  in  abundance. 
This  was  brought  in  in  a  large  pewter  can  and 
passed  around  the  table  from  student  to  student, 
each  one  drinking  his  share  from  the  common 
dish.  Supper  was  usually  eaten  in  the  rooms 
and  consisted  of  a  bowl  of  milk  and  a  piece  of 
bread. 

College  life  was  a  serious  matter  and  the  stu- 
dent's time  was  well  filled.  Much  attention  was 
paid  to  the  study  of  the  Scriptures.  Every  morn- 
ing in  the  college  chapel  each  student  was  obliged 
to  translate  into  Greek  a  portion  of  the  Bible 
printed  in  Hebrew.  In  the  evening  he  must 
translate  the  English  version  into  Greek.  On 


JOHN   HARVARD  261 

Sunday  he  must  pay  good  attention  to  the  ser- 
mon, for  not  only  must  he  give  its  text  and  divi- 
sions, but  he  must  repeat  long  portions  of  it. 
This  was  not  an  easy  task  by  any  means.  Ser- 
mons in  those  days  were  long  and  difficult 
to  remember.  Students  were  obliged  also  to 
know  Latin  thoroughly.  If  one  student  met 
another  in  the  college  yard  he  did  not  call  out  a 
cheery  "  Hello  !"  Oh,  no  !  Whatever  he  said 
must  be  said  in  the  Latin  tongue. 

There  were  many  laws  in  the  early  times, 
defining  what  a  student  could  do  and  could  not 
do.  The  things  he  could  do  were  few,  but  the 
things  he  could  not  do  were  many.  If  he  broke 
the  rules,  he  might  be  reproved  or  fined.  If  he 
persisted  in  breaking  the  rules,  he  was  whipped. 
On  such  an  occasion  the  students  were  all  gathered 
in  the  library.  The  culprit  was  brought  in  before 
the  president  and  the  other  officers  of  the  college. 
After  his  sentence  was  read  he  knelt,  and  the  pres- 
ident offered  prayer.  Then  the  prison-keeper  at 
Cambridge  gave  the  whipping ;  ten  lashes  if  the 
offense  was  very  bad,  fewer  if  it  was  slight.  The 
president  closed  the  exercises  with  another  prayer, 
and  the  students  filed  out.  The  punishment  was 
not  yet  over.  The  offender  must  sit  alone  at 
meal-time,  and  he  might  be  prevented  from  grad- 
uating with  his  class. 


262  AMERICAN    PIONEERS 

College  life  fell  the  heaviest  upon  the  freshmen, 
and  they  must  have  drawn  a  breath  of  relief 
when  the  first  year  was  over.  They  were  obliged 
to  run  errands  for  the  upper-classmen  and  were 
at  their  beck  and  call  outside  of  study  hours. 
No  freshman  could  wear  his  hat  while  talking-  to 


THE    COLLEGE    YA.RD   AT    HARVARD    TO-DAY 

the  seniors,  and  even  in  the  college  yard  he  must 
go  bare-headed  unless  his  hands  were  full  or  the 
weather  was  stormy.  This  custom  of  taking  off 
the  hat  to  the  upper-classmen  was  continued 
many  years  and  was  then  broken  up  by  a  fresh- 
man who  afterwards  became  a  professor  in  the 
college. 

One  day  he  refused  to  take  off  his  hat.  and  the 


JOHN   HARVARD  263 

upper  class  man  went  to  President  Willard  and 
complained. 

"  Go  to  Hedge's  room,"  said  the  President, 
"and  tell  him  that  I  want  to  see  him  immediately, 
and  do  you  come  back  with  him." 

The  senior  gladly  hurried  off  on  his  errand. 
"  Come,  Hedge,"  said  he.  "You  must  go  with 
me  to  the  President's  study.  I  have  complained 
to  him  about  your  not  taking  off  your  hat,  and 
he  told  me  to  tell  you  he  wanted  to  see  you  im- 
mediately. I  guess  you  have  got  to  take  it  now. 
Come  quick." 

"  Certainly  I  will  go,"  replied  the  freshman. 
He  put  on  his  hat,  and  they  walked  out  of  the 
room  together.  The  moment  .they  reached  the 
yard,  the  senior  stopped  and  said,  "  Come,  take 
off  your  hat,  sir.  I  am  going  to  have  no  more 
of  this  thing  I  can  tell  you." 

"  Very  well,  sir,"  replied  Hedge,  and  took  off 
his  hat.  "  There,  sir,  my  hat  is  off,  and  now, 
take  off  yours." 

The  senior  looked  at  his  clinched  fists  and 
hesitated.  "  Take  it  off,  sir,  immediately,"  said 
the  freshman  firmly,  "or  I  will  knock  you  down." 

When  they  reached  the  President's  study  he 
said,  "  How  is  this  ?  D.  says  that  you  do  not 
take  off  your  hat  when  you  see  him  or  meet  him 
in  the  college  yard." 


264 


AMERICAN    PIONEERS 


Hedge  replied,  "  I  don't  like  the  custom. 
There  is  no  law  ordering  or  enforcing  it,  I  be- 
lieve. In  the  college  yard  or  out  of  it  I  am  per- 
fectly willing  to  take  off  my  hat  to  any  gentleman 

who  shows  me  the 
same  courtesy." 

The  senior  then 
told  the  story  of 

\\  what  had  occurred 

^j  on  the  way. 

"  Oh  !  "  said  the 
President.  "Hedge 
took  off  his  hat  the 
moment  you  asked 
him  to  do  so,  did 
he  not  ? " 
"  Yes,  sir." 
-What   did    he 
do  then  ?  " 

"  He  told  me  to 
take  off  my  hat  or 
he  would  knock 
me  down." 

"  Well,  what  did 
you  do  ?  " 

"  Why,  sir,  I  didn't  want  to  fight  or  be  knocked 
down,  so  I  took  off  my  hat." 

"  Well,"  answered  the  President,  "I  think  that 


MONUMENT  ERECTED  AT  CHARLESTOWN, 
MASSACHUSETTS,  IN  1828,  BY  "THE 
GRADUATES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF 
CAMBRIDGE,  NEW  ENGLAND  ...  IN 
PIOUS  AND  PERPETUAL  REMEMBRANCE 
OF  JOHN  HARVARD  " 


JOHN   HARVARD  265 

is  a  very  good  rule  for  you  and  the  others  to 
follow.  If  you  don't  want  to  be  knocked  down, 
take  off  your  hat  to  those  from  whom  you  expect 
or  desire  a  like  courtesy  to  you." 

From  a  very  small  beginning  has  grown  the 
largest  of  the  American  universities.  Its  one 
building  has  increased  to  scores  ;  its  professors 
number  hundreds  instead  of  tens  ;  and  its  stu- 
dents, thousands  instead  of  twenties.  Now  col- 
leges and  universities  are  to  be  found  in  every 
state  of  the  Union,  but  Harvard  was  the  first, 
the  pioneer  college,  and  as  such  will  ever  be  dear 
to  the  American  people. 


The   Royal   Arms  of  Massachusetts 


CHAPTER    XXIII 

HORACE    MANN 
1796-1859 

TLJORACE  MANN  was  born  in  the  town  of 
Franklin,  Massachusetts,  just  before  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century.  His  father 
owned  a  small  farm,  but  had  very  little  other 
property.  He  died  when  Horace  was  thirteen 
years  old,  and  after  that  the  boy  hardly  knew 
what  play  or  holidays  meant.  Work  began  at 
sunrise  in  the  morning  and  frequently  continued 
until  after  dark.  In  the  summer  he  attended  to 
the  various  duties  of  the  farm  ;  in  the  winter  he 
went  to  school,  but  still  had  the  chores  to  do  and 
any  other  work  that  would  earn  a  penny.  Life 
was  a  hard  treadmill,  but  it  did  not  at  all  prove 
that  "all  work  and  no  play"  made  Horace  a 
"dull  boy."  However,  "all  work"  did  under- 
mine his  strength  so  that  he  suffered  from  ill- 
health  all  his  life. 

The  school  that  Horace  attended  was  like 
most  of  the  country  schools  of  that  day,  barren 
and  uncomfortable.  There  were  no  bright,  pleas- 


HORACE   MANN 


267 


ant  schoolrooms,  airy  in  summer  and  warm  in 
winter.  There  were  no  comfortable  seats,  no 
convenient  desks.  There  were  no  pictures  on 
the  walls,  no  blackboards,  no  globes,  no  maps, 
no  books  of  reference.  Children  had  little  in 
those  days  to  make  school  pleasant  or  interesting. 
School  life,  like  the 
home  life,  was  stern 
and  full  of  drudgery. 

The  district  school- 
houses  had  but  one 
room.  The  seats  were 
long  benches  running 
around  three  sides  of 
the  room,  and  in  front 
of  them  were  rude 
planks  for  desks.  The 
studies  were  mostly 
confined  to  "the  three  R's,"  as  they  were  called, 
"readin',  ritin',  and  'rithmetic."  If  a  boy  did  not 
expect  to  go  to  college  he  was  thought  to  be 
sufficiently  educated  for  all  practical  purposes  if 
he  could  read  and  write  and  was  able  to  keep  his 
business  accounts. 

The  school  books  were  dry  and  uninteresting. 
They  were  bound  either  in  leather  with  paste- 
board foundation,  or  else  with  thin,  wooden  sides, 
covered  with  paper  and  with  backs  of  leather. 


HORACE    MANN 


268  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

Each  child  bought  his  own  books  ;  and  if  he  had 
no  money  to  buy  a  book,  he  had  to  go  without 
and  pick  up  his  lessons  the  best  way  he  could. 
Because  school  books  were  scarce  and  difficult 
to  obtain,  they  were  carefully  kept  and  highly 
prized.  Horace  earned  his  books  by  braiding 
straw.  In  later  years  he  wrote,  "  I  was  taught 
to  take  care  of  the  few  books  we  had  as  though 
there  was  something  sacred  about  them.  I  never 
dog-eared  one  in  my  life,  nor  profanely  scribbled 
upon  title  pages,  margin,  or  fly  leaf  ;  and  would  as 
soon  have  stuck  a  pin  through  my  flesh  as  through 
the  pages  of  a  book." 

Probably  the  most  important  school  book  of 
that  time  was  Webster's  "  Blue-back  Spelling 
Book."  It  was  prepared  by  Noah  Webster,  who 
made  the  famous  Webster's  Dictionary  which 
has  grown  to  such  a  great  size  in  the  present 
day.  Webster  considered  that  the  "  spelling 
book  does  more  to  form  the  language  of  a  na- 
tion than  all  other  books,"  and  most  teachers 
and  parents  of  that  day  agreed,  with  him.  A 
boy  or  a  girl  who  could  spell  down  all  the  others 
at  school  or  at  the  spelling  matches  was  held  in 
high  honor. 

An  amusing  story  from  a  little  book,  "  The 
District  School  As  It  Was,"  well  illustrates 
some  of  the  spelling  methods  and  other  customs 


HORACE   MANN 


269 


of  the  old-time  school.  In  a  certain  district  was 
a  famous  speller  called  "  Memorous,"  because  no 
word  was  too  long  or  too  hard  for  his  memory 
to  retain. 

"  It  happened  one  day  that  the  '  cut  and  split ' 
for  the  fire  fell  short,  and  Jonas  Patch  was  out 


A    SCHOOLROOM    WHEN    HORACE    MANN    WAS    A    BOY 

wielding  the  axe  in  school  time.  He  had  been 
at  work  about  half  an  hour,  when  Memorous,  who 
was  perceived  to  have  less  to  do  than  the  rest, 
was  sent  out  to  take  his  place.  He  was  about 
ten  years  old  and  four  years  younger  than  Jonas. 
"  '  Memorous,'  said  the  master,  '  you  may  go 
out  and  spell  Jonas.' 


270  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

"  Memorous  did  not  think  of  the  Yankee  sense 
in  which  the  master  used  the  word  '  spell '  (that 
is,  to  relieve  some  one  of  work)  :  indeed,  he  had 
never  attached  but  one  meaning  to  it,  whenever 
it  was  used  in  reference  to  himself.  So  he  put 
his  spelling-book  under  his  arm,  and  ran  to  the 
wood-pile  with  the  speed  of  a  boy  rushing  to  play. 

"  'Ye  got  yer  spellin'  lesson,  Jonas  ?'  was  his 
first  salutation. 

"  '  Haven't  looked  at  it,  yit,'  was  the  reply. 
t  I  mean  to  cut  up  this  great  log,  spellin'  or  no 
spellin'  before  I  go  in.  I  had  as  lieve  keep  warm 
here  choppin'  wood,  as  to  freeze  up  there  in 
that  cold  back  seat.' 

"  '  Well,  the  master  sent  me  out  to  hear  you 
spell.' 

"  '  Did  he?  Well,  put  out  the  words,  and  I'll 
spell.' 

"  Memorous  being  so  distinguished  a  speller, 
Jonas  did  not  doubt  but  that  he  was  really  sent 
out  on  this  errand.  So  our  deputy  spelling-mas- 
ter mounted  the  top  of  the  wood-pile,  just  in 
front  of  Jonas,  to  put  out  words  to  his  pupil, 
who  still  kept  on  cutting  out  chips. 

"  '  Do  you  know  where  the  lesson  begins, 
Jonas?' 

"  '  No,  I  don't ;  but  I  s'pose  I  shall  find  out  now.' 

"  'Well,  here  'tis.     Spell  A-bom-i-na-tion.' 


HORACE   MANN  2/1 

"  Jonas  spells.  '  A-b-o-m,  bom,  a-bom  (in  the 
mean  time  up  goes  the  axe  high  in  air),  i,  a-bom-i 
(down  it  goes  again  chuck  into  the  wood),  n-a, 
na,  a-bom-i-na  (up  it  goes  again),  t-i-o-n,  tion, 
a-bom-i-na-tion.'  Chuck  the  axe  goes  again,  and 
at  the  same  time  out  flies  a  furious  chip,  and  hits 
Memorous  on  the  nose. 

"  At  this  moment  the  master  appears  at  the 
corner  of  the  schoolhouse.  'Jonas,  why  don't 
you  come  in  ?  Didn't  I  send  Memorous  out  to 
spell  you  ? ' 

"  '  Yes,  sir,  and  he  has  been  spelling  me  ;  how 
could  I  come  in  if  he  spelt  me  out  here  ?' 

"  At  this  the  master's  eye  caught  Memorous 
perched  upon  the  top  stick,  with  his  book 
open  upon  his  lap,  rubbing  his  nose,  and  just 
in  the  act  of  putting  out  the  next  word  of  the 
column. 

"  *  Ac-com-mo-da-tion,'  pronounced  Memorous 
in  a  broken  but  louder  voice  than  before,  for  he 
had  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  master  and  wished 
to  let  him  know  that  he  was  doing  his  duty. 

"  This  was  too  much  for  the  master's  gravity. 
He  perceived  the  mistake,  and,  without  saying 
more,  wheeled  back  into  the  schoolroom,  almost 
bursting  with  the  most  tumultuous  laugh  he  ever 
tried  to  suppress.  The  scholars  wondered  at 
his  looks  and  grinned  in  sympathy. 


272  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

"  In  a  few  minutes  Jonas  came  in,  followed  by 
Memorous  with  his  spelling-book. 

"  '  I  have  heard  him  spell  clean  through  the 
whole  lesson/  he  exclaimed,  '  and  he  didn't  spell 
hardly  none  of  'em  right.' 

"The  master  could  hold  in  no  longer,  and  the 
scholars  perceiving  the  blunder  joined  in  with 
his  laughter :  laughing  twice  as  loud  and  up- 
roariously in  consequence  of  being  permitted  to 
laugh  in  school  time  and  to  do  it  with  the 
master." 

A  book  that  had  been  used  a  much  longer 
time  than  the  Webster's  Speller  was  the  "  New 
England  Primer."  This  little  book  combined 
religious  teachings  with  the  A,  B,  C's.  The  al- 
phabet began  with, 


In  Adam's  fall 
We  sinned  all.1 


and  ended  with 


Zaccheus  he 

Did  climb   the  Tree 

His  Lord  to  see." 


Another  strange  book  of  the  early  times  was 
"A  Lottery  Book  for  Children."  On  one  side 
of  the  leaf  were  two  pictures,  on  the  other  was  a 
letter  of  the  alphabet.  The  pupil  tried  to  pierce 


HORACE   MANN 


273 


the  letter  by  sticking  a  pin  through  the  picture 
on  the  other  side.  After  each  trial  the  leaf 
would  be  turned ;  and  it  was  expected  that  by 


THE 


PRIMER 

ENLARGED* 

Otg  an  cafy  and  pie  if  ant 

#  Guide  to  the  Art  of  Reading. 
3r;          Adorn'd  with  Cut* 

* 

^  To  u»^»Vfi  art  cdd*dt 

|  The  Aflembly  of  Divines, 
$       and  Mr.  COTTON'S 
CATECHISM, 

*  o  s  r  o  V; 

£Viit«d  by    E     DRAFTR.   for 
LARK  IK,  in 


* 

« 


TITLE    PAGE  OF  A  COPY  OF  "  THE    NEW    ENGLAND 
PRIMER,"    PUBLISHED    ABOUT    1785 

the  time  success  was  reached,  the  letter  would 
be  so  firmly  fixed  on  the  mind  that  it  never 
would  be  forgotten. 

The   schools   were   kept    in    summer   and    in 
winter.     In   summer  the  teacher  was  usually  a 

18 


274  AMERICAN  PIONEERS 

woman,  for  then  all  the  big  boys  and  girls  were 
kept  busy  on  the  farms.  In  winter  the  teacher 
was  a  man,  for  strength  was  necessary  to  hold 
the  unruly  boys  to  their  tasks.  Birch  rods,  the 
ferule,  and  the  strap  were  important  furnishings 
of  a  schoolroom.  In  fact  many  teachers  knew 
better  how  to  use  the  switch  than  how  to  use 
the  school  books.  And  they  knew  better  how 
to  use  books  than  how  to  bring  out  the  talents 
of  the  children  in  their  care. 

Poor  little  Horace  Mann,  whose  mind  was  so 
full  of  thoughts  that  he  must  use  his  fingers  to 
express  them,  was  smartly  called  to  order  by  a 
crack  across  the  knuckles  when  he  attempted  to 
make  some  drawings.  He  used  to  think  in  after 
years  that  he  might  have  become  a  poet  or  an 
artist  if  his  teachers  had  only  understood  him 
better.  No  wonder  that  he  said  that  his  teach- 
ers were  "very  good  people  but  very  poor 
teachers." 

Finally  Horace  came  under  the  care  of  a 
master  who  inspired  him  with  a  .desire  to  go  to 
college.  Up  to  this  time  he  had  been  to  school 
not  more  than  eight  or  ten  weeks  in  any  year. 
He  was  now  twenty  years  old,  and  in  four 
months  he  learned  Latin  enough  not  only  to  enter 
college  but  to  enter  it  in  the  sophomore  class. 
This  severe  study  was  a  terrible  strain,  and  he 


HORACE   MANN 


2/5 


felt  its  effects  all  his  life.  After  he  left  college 
he  studied  law,  taught  Latin  and  Greek,  opened 
a  law  office  in  Boston,  and  later  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Massachusetts  legislature.  He 
made  a  name  for  himself  in  all  these  professions. 

Horace  Mann  became  a  member  of  the  Gen- 
eral Court  at  a  time  when 
the  attention  of  the  people 
was    being    called    to    the 
condition     of     the     public 
schools.     The  schools  had 
been    started    many    years 
before,    indeed    almost    as 
soon    as    the   first    settlers 
came  to  Massachusetts.    It 
was  the  thought  of  the  fa- 
thers that  all  children  must 
be    taught    to  •  read    "  lest 
that     old    deluder,    Satan, 
should  keep  men  from  the 
knowledge    of    the    Scrip- 
tures."    The    schools    so   well    begun    had   got 
into  a  bad  state  as  the  years  went  by.     The  bet- 
ter class  of  parents  would  not  send  their  children 
to   the   public   schools,   and    few  attended   who 
could  afford  to  pay  tuition  at  private  schools. 

Now,  in  the  hope  of  restoring  the  old  custom 
of  having  the  rich  and   the   poor  educated  to- 


STATUE  OF  HOKACK  MANN  IN 
FRONT  OF  THE  STATE 
HOUSE  IN  BOSTON 


2/6  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

gether,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  reform  the 
public  schools.  Mr.  Mann  became  its  first  sec- 
retary and  upon  him  most  of  the  work  fell.  He 
entered  upon  his  duties  feeling  that  an  oppor- 
tunity for  great  usefulness  had  been  given  him. 
"  What  surprises  me  as  most  extraordinary  in 
relation  to  my  new  office,"  he  wrote  to  a  friend, 
"  is  that  every  man  inquires  concerning  the 
salary  or  makes  remarks  that  look  wholly  to  the 
comparative  honor  of  the  station,  while  no  man 
seems  to  recognize  its  possible  usefulness." 

In  spite  of  ill-health  Mr.  Mann  was  a  great 
worker.  His  motto  in  life  was 

"  Count  that  day  lost  whose  low  descending  sun 
Views  at  thy  hand  no  worthy  action  done." 

He  now  found  a  chance  for  all  the  hard  work 
he  could  do.  Most  people  thought  that  the 
schools  did  not  need  reform.  Some  considered 
that  they  were  good  enough  as  they  were.  Others 
thought  that  better  schools  would  mean  more 
taxation  and  therefore  objected  to  a  change. 
Even  the  best  of  the  teachers  opposed  his  plans, 
but  Mr.  Mann  kept  doggedly  at  his  purpose  to 
improve  the  schools.  "  If  the  Lord  will,  I  will," 
he  wrote  after  the  miserable  failure  of  a  teacher's 
convention  that  he  had  tried  to  hold.  "  That  is, 
I  will  work  in  this  moral  as  well  as  physical  sand- 


x HORACE    MANN  2/7 

l>ank  of  a  country  until  I  can  get  some  new  thing 
to  grow  out  of  it." 

He  was  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Education 
for  twelve  years,  and  during  this  time  many 
things  began  to  grow.  Normal  schools  for  the 
training  of  teachers  were  started  ;  conventions  for 
the  discussion  of  plans  were  instituted  ;  books 


HORACK  MANX  SCHOOL,  UNDER  TIIK  AUSPICES  OK  TEACHERS  COLLEGE, 
COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY,  NEW  YORK  CITY:  SO  NAMED  IN  RECOGNITION 
OF  THE  WORK  OF  HORACE  MANN 

were  improved  and  multiplied  ;  and  appliances 
increased.  With  better  teachers  and  better 
methods,  came  better  results  ;  and  once  more 
the  people  began  to  have  confidence  in  their 
schools. 

Other  New  England  states  followed  the  ex- 


2/8  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

ample  of  Massachusetts,  and  from  New  England 
the  reform  spread  all  over  the  country.  New 
methods  have  continually  taken  the  place  of  out- 
worn methods'  until  now  the  public  schools  of 
America  are  the  best  that  can  be  found  in  any 
land. 


Mending  the  Quill-Pen 


CHAPTER  XIV 

MARY  LYON 
1797-1849 

\\7E~ have  seen  in  the  last  two  chapters  how 
anxious  the  first  settlers  in  America  were 
that  their  children  should  have  an  education,  but 
most  of  their  thought  was  spent  on  the  education 
of  their  boys.  When  Harvard  was  started,  no 
one  had  even  dreamed  that  a  girl  ought  to  go  or 
would  ever  wish  to  go  to  college.  Why  should 
a  girl  go  to  college  ?  She  could  not  be  a  minister, 
or  a  lawyer,  or  a  doctor.  It  was  her  duty  to  look 
after  the  affairs  of  the  household ;  and  she  did  not 
need  Greek  to  cook,  or  Latin  to  spin,  or  mathe- 
matics to  weave.  Even  the  grammar  schools 
were  not  for  girls.  The  grammar  schools  were  to 
fit  boys  .for  college  ;  and  as  girls  did  not  go  to 
college,  they  did  not  go  to  the  grammar  schools. 
Just  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  went  by  after 
the  establishment  of  public  schools  before  girls 
were  permitted  to  enter  the  schools  of  Boston. 
Then  they  were  opened  to  girls  only  in  the  sum- 
mer months  when  most  of  the  boys  were  busy 


280 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


with  out-of-door  duties.  What  was  true  of  Bos- 
ton was  true  of  other  towns  and  villages  through- 
out the  colonies.  What  little  a  girl  knew  about 
books,  she  learned  at  home,  or  at  the  minister's, 
or  at  a  "  dame  school."  As  "  dame  schools  "  were 
usually  kept  by  old  women  who  were  taken 
care  of  by  the  town,  the  amount  of  instruction 

that  a  girl  could 
get  at  one  of  these 
schools  was  small 
indeed. 

Women  had  very 
little  time  or  use 
for  many  things 
that  women  now- 
a-days  think  they 
cannot  get  along 
without.  We  must 
remember  that  clothing  and  food  could  not  be 
bought  at  the  stores  as  they  can  be  now.  In 
those  days  most  people  lived  on  farms  where 
almost  everything  that  they  ate  or  wore  was  pro- 
duced. Wool  was  cut  from  the  backs  of  the 
sheep  that  browsed  in  the  pastures.  It  was 
carded,  spun,  woven  and  made  into  garments  and 
blankets  by  the  women  of  the  household.  Flax 
was  grown  in  the  fields,  made  into  cloth  and 
fashioned  into  sheets,  tablecloths,  and  under  gar- 


MARY   LYON  28 1 

ments.  Women  braided  straw  for  hats,  knit 
stockings,  gloves  and  mittens,  churned  butter, 
set  cheese,  dried  fruits  and  vegetables  for  winter 
use,  and  looked  after  the  many  needs  of  their 
large  families.  The  girls  were  given  their  home 
duties  almost  as  soon  as  they  could  walk,  and 
even  a  child  of  four  has  been  known  to  knit  her- 
self a  pair  of  stockings. 

Up  to  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
most  people  thought  that  if  girls  knew  how  to 
read  they  had  about  all  the  "  book  learning"  that 
was  needed.  It  was  not  necessary  for  them  to 
learn  to  write,  for  very  few  women  ever  had 
occasion  to  write  a  letter  ;  and  if  they  had  to  sign 
their  name  to  a  deed  or  some  other  legal  paper, 
."  a  mark  "  would  do  just  as  well  as  their  written 
name.  As  for  arithmetic,  "All  a  girl  needs  to 
know,"  some  one  said,  "  is  enough  to  reckon  how 
much  she  will  need  to  spin  to  buy  a  peck  of 
potatoes  in  case  she  becomes  a  widow."  Said 
another,  "If  you  expect  to  become  a  widow  and 
have  to  carry  pork  to  market,  it  may  be  well 
enough  to  study  mental  arithmetic." 

The  story  is  told  of  a  girl  who  tried  to  study 
arithmetic  by  herself.  The  problems  in  interest 
bothered  her,  and  she  went  to  her  elder  brother 
for  help.  "  I  am  ashamed,"  said  he,  "  of  a  girl 
who  wants  to  study  interest." 


282 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


Of  course  here  and  there  were  women  who 
could  write  good  letters,  do  problems  in  algebra, 
and  even  read  Latin.  The  less  fortunate  women 
spoke  of  them  with  awe  and  admiration.  Horace 
Mann  tells  us  that  when  he  was  a  boy  a  young 
woman  who  was  said  to 
have  studied  Latin  visited 
at  his  father's  house.  "  I 
looked  upon  her,"  he  wrote, 
"as  a  sort  of  goddess." 

As  the  years  went  on,  a 
change  came  in  the  condi- 
tion of  the  people  in  the 
colonies.  The  towns  and 
villages  grew  larger,  people 
had  more  money,  and  more 
things  could  be  bought  at 
the  stores.  A  woman's  time 

^^      n()t      SQ       fujly      oCCUpied 

.  r 

with  so  great  a  variety  01 
duties  as  heretofore.  Girls  were  not  so  much 
needed  at  home,  and  it  was  necessary  for  them 
to  go  out  to  earn  a  little  money.  They  became 
dissatisfied  with  their  limited  knowledge.  They 
wanted  to  learn  what  the  boys  learned.  One 
little  girl  went  so  far  as  to  sit  on  the  door-step  of 
the  schoolhouse  so  that  she  could  hear  the  boys 
recite  their  lessons.  So  the  schools  were  in 


AS  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN 

LOOKED  WHEN  MARY  LYON 
WAS  A   GIRL 


MARY   LYON  283 

time  opened  for  girls  as  well  as  for  boys,  and 
schoolmistresses  began  to  take  the  place  of  mas- 
ters in  the  smaller  schools. 

As  the  common  schools  did  not  give  all  that 
parents  now  wanted  for  their  children,  academies 
and  seminaries  were  started  here  and  there. 
There  were  people  who  thought  that  some  of 
these  institutions  did  almost  more  harm  than 
good.  One  father  said,  "  I  spent  a  thousand 
dollars  on  the  education  of  my  daughter.  I 
would  give  another  thousand  to  undo  it.  She 
has  been  made  vain,  frivolous,  and  discontented 
with  the  plain,  simple  habits  of  home."  Other 
academies — and  there  were  many  of  them — were 
wise  and  helpful  in  their  training,  and  some  of 
the  best  have  continued  to  the  present  day.  Old- 
fashioned  people  were  much  troubled  by  these 
schools  and  by  the  new  branches  that  girls  now 
studied.  "  Who  shall  cook  our  food,  or  mend 
our  clothes,  if  girls  are  to  be  taught  philosophy 
and  astronomy?"  they  said.  They  little  realized 
that  the  school  would  make  them  better  cooks 
and  housekeepers. 

At  the  time  all  these  changes  were  going  on 
in  the  thought  and  condition  of  the  people  in 
America,  Mary  Lyon  was  born  in  Buckland, 
Massachusetts.  She  grew  up  as  did  the  other 
girls  in  the  neighborhood,  was  taught  to  sew,  to 


284 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


knit,  and  to  spin,  attended  the  district  school  and 
there  learned  to  read,  to  write,  and  to  spell. 
She  learned  her  lessons  faster  than  the  other 
girls,  however,  and  wanted  to  go  further  and  to 
do  more  than  was  demanded  by  the  teacher. 

One  day  she  asked 
if    she    might    not 
study  grammar.     I  n 
four   days    she   had 
learned  the  contents 
of  the  whole  book. 
Later   on,     when 
she    was    a  student 
at  Sanderson  Acad- 
emy,    her     teacher 
her   a    Latin 
to    study 

to    keep    her    from 
Coiner   through    the 

o  O  o 

whole  course  while 
her  mates  were  learning  a  few  lessons.  In  three 
days  she  had  mastered  the  book  so  that  she 
could  recite  it  from  beginning  to  end.  It  is  said 
that  that  recitation  lasted  until  after  dark,  and 
that  her  schoolmates  forgot  their  work  and  the 
time  of  day  as  they  listened  to  her  perfect  an- 
swers to  the  master's  questions. 

The  girls   admired  her,  but  they  were  never 


gave 


grammar 


MARY.LYON  285 

jealous  of  her  ability,  because  she  was  always 
ready  to  help  and  to  encourage  them,  no  matter 
how  busy  she  was  herself.  While  attending  the 
academy,  she  earned  her  board  by  service  in  a 
household  near  by.  She  proved  a  good  worker 
in  the  home  as  well  as  at  school.  A  gentleman 
once  asked  the  man  in  whose  family  she  worked, 
"  Well,  this  Mary  Lyon  is  a  wonderful  girl, 
isn't  she  ?  They  say  that  none  of  the  boys  can 
keep  up  with  her.  But  how  is  it  about  her 
work  ?  Does  she  really  do  anything  or  do  you 
just  give  her  her  board?'' 

"  Well,"  was  the  reply,  "  Mary  wings  the  pota- 
toes." 

This  meant  that  she  brushed  off  with  a  wing 
all  the  dust  and  dirt  from  the  potatoes  that  had 
been  roasted  in  the  ashes  of  the  open  fireplace. 
What  else  she  did  the  story  does  not  tell,  but 
the  questioner  understood  that  whatever  she  did, 
no  matter  how  simple,  was  done  thoroughly  and 
well. 

Mary  Lyon's  school  life  amounted  to  only  a 
few  months  all  told,  although  it  extended  over 
many  years.  Her  father  died  when  she  was 
seven  years  old,  and  most  of  the  money  for  her 
tuition  she  was  obliged  to  earn  herself.  When 
only  fifteen,  she  kept  house  for  her  eldest 
brother.  He  paid  her  a  dollar  a  week,  which 


286 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


seemed  a  large  sum  to  her  and  for  which  she  was 
most  grateful.  "  I  never  saw  any  such  dollars 
before,  nor  have  I  since,"  she  once  said.  "  They 
were  mine,  and  my  dear  brother  had  given  them 
to  me.  I  did  weep  over  them/' 


A  NEW  ENGLAND  KITCHEN.  FIREPLACE  WITH  HAKE-OVEN  AT  THE 
RIGHT,  SPINNING-WHEEL  STANDING  AT  THE  LEFT  ;  ON  THE  FLOOR, 
A  RUG  MADE  OF  STRIPS  OF  COTTON,  BRAIDED  AND  SEWED  BY  HAND 

Later  she  taught  school  and  received  seventy- 
five  cents  a  week  for  pay  besides  her  board. 
She  became  much  discouraged  over  this  first 
school  and  thought  that  she  would  never  make  a 
good  teacher.  Others  used  to  think  so,  too. 
"  She  will  never  equal  her  sister  as  a  teacher," 


MARY    LYON  287 

they  said.  In  after  years  Miss  Lyon  used  to 
say  to  her  pupils,  "  If  you  commence  teaching 
and  do  not  succeed,  teach  till  you  do  succeed." 
That  was  what  she  did  herself.  She  became 
very  popular  as  a  teacher  and  was  so  beloved  by 
the  different  families  with  whom  she  boarded, 
that  each  one  would  have  been  glad  to  keep  her 
all  the  time.  She  was  just  as  ready  to  help  the 
busy  mothers  as  she  had  been  to  assist  her 
schoolmates. 

When  Mary  Lyon  was  twenty-four  years  old, 
she  decided  to  go  to  school  again.  The  Rev- 
erend Joseph  Emerson  had  started  an  academy 
at  Byfield,  Massachusetts,  which  gave  more  ad- 
vanced work  for  women  than  any  other  school 
at  that  time.  It  was  this  school  that  she  wished 
to  attend.  Her  friends  opposed  her  plan  for 
various  reasons.  Perhaps  some  thought  that 
already  she  knew  more  than  a  woman  ought  to 
know.  Others  thought  that  the  journey  was  too 
long  and  expensive,  as  Byfield  was  a  long  distance 
from  her  home.  Still  others  might  have  thought 
that  she  was  too  old  to  go  to  school.  Her 
mother,  however,  told  her  to  go,  and  she  set  out 
for  Byfield.  It  was  before  the  days  of  the  rail- 
road, and  the  journey  that  now  can  be  made 
in  a  few  hours  then  took  three  days.  "  You  can 
hardly  understand,"  she  said  in  after  years, 


288  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

"  what  a  great  thing  it  was  to  get  to  Byfield.  It 
was  almost  like  going  to  Europe  now." 

At  the  academy  she  began  to  look  upon  a 
higher  education  in  an  entirely  new  way.  Pre- 
viously she  had  studied  because  she  loved  to 
study  and  for  the  pleasure  she  got  from  it.  Now 
she  began  to  see  that  the  more  she  knew  the 
more  chances  for  usefulness  would  come  to  her. 
This  feeling  increased  as  she  began  to  teach 
again,  and  she  now  wished  that  she  might  start  a 
school  that  would  give  to  girls  advantages  for 
study  not  only  greater  than  could  then  be  found 
anywhere  else,  but  such  as  would  train  them  for 
wider  usefulness.  This  unselfish  view  of  the 
advantages  of  a  higher  education  she  constantly 
tried  to  keep  before  herself  and  her  pupils. 
"  Young  ladies,"  she  would  say,  "  never  ask  to 
live  simply  for  yourself.  Live  for  the  good  of 
others."  She  felt  that  God  had  given  women  a 
great  work  to  do  in  the  world,  and  this  work 
could  not  be  well  done  unless  their  brains  were 
as  thoroughly  trained  as  their  hands. 

Through  many  years  she  worked  and  prayed. 
Friends  came  to  her  aid  who  were  ready  to  help 
her  with  their  money,  their  time,  and  their  sym- 
pathy. Though  at  times  their  faith  in  the  un- 
dertaking failed,  her  own  never  faltered.  At 
last,  in  the  autumn  of  1837,  everything  was  ready 


MARY    LYON 


289 


and  the  day  for  the  opening  of  the  new  school 
was  at  hand.  Miss  Lyon,  who  before  had  been 
so  brave,  now  began  to  fear  for  the  success  of 
her  school.  "  When  I  look  forward  to  Novem- 
ber 8th,"  she  said,  "  it  seems  like  looking  down 
a  precipice  of  many  hundred  feet  which  I  must 


MOUNT    HOLYOKE    FEMALE    SEMINARY  :    THE    FIRST    BUILDING    OF 
MOUNT    HOLYOKE   COLLEGE 

descend."  Thus  was  started  Mount  Holyoke 
Seminary,  the  first  school  that  gave  anything 
like  a  college  training  to  girls. 

Mary  Lyon  remained  at  its  head  for  twelve 
years.  Her  beautiful  character  and  life  influ- 
enced every  girl  who  came  into  the  school. 


2QO  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

When  the  girls  left  it,  they  desired  in  their  turn 
to  make  the  most  of  their  lives  and  opportunities 
for  the  good  of  the  less  fortunate.  Many  of 
them  went  as  missionaries  to  heathen  lands. 

When   Mary  Lyon  died  she  was  mourned  the 
whole  world  around.     "  Is  she  missed?"  some 


THE    TALCOTT    ARBORETUM,    MOUNT     HOLYOKE    COLLEGE,    CONTAINING 
A    COLLECTION    OF    RARE    TROPICAL    PLANTS 

one  wrote  soon  after  her  death.  "  Scarcely  ? 
state  of  the  American  Union  but  contains  those 
she  trained.  Long  ere  this,  amid  the  hunting 
grounds  of  the  Sioux  and  the  villages  of  the 
Cherokees,  the  tear  of  the  missionary  has  wet 
the  page  which  told  of  Miss  Lyon's  departure. 
The  Sandwich  Islander  will  ask  why  his  white 


MARY   LYON 


29I 


teacher's  eye  is  dim  as  she  reads  her  American 
letter.  The  swarthy  African  will  lament  with  his 
sorrowing  guide.  The  cinnamon  groves  of  Cey- 
lon and  the  palm  trees  of  India  overshadow  her 
early  deceased  missionary  pupils.  Among  the 
Nestorians  of  Persia  and  at  the  base  of  Mount 
Olympus  will  her  name  be  breathed  softly  as  the 
household  name  of  one  whom  God  has  taken." 

Now  Mount  Holyoke  Seminary  has  become 
Mount  Holyoke  College.  Now,  in  this  country, 
instead  of  one  school  where  girls  can  receive  a 
college  education,  there  are  almost  as  many  col- 
leges for  women  as  for  men.  No  longer  is  any 
brother  ashamed  of  a  sister  who  wishes  "  to  learn 
interest."  Rather  is  he  ashamed  of  her  if  she 
does  not  wish  to  learn  interest  and  much  besides. 


CHAPTER   XXV 

SAMUEL  G.    HOWE 
1801-1876 

'VT'OU  have  all  heard  of  the  yacht  races  off 
Sandy  Hook  on  the  Jersey  coast.  Year 
after  year  up  to  the  present  time  (1905),  an 
English  yacht  has  crossed  the  Atlantic  to  win 
the  cup  that  America  has  so  long  held.  Each 
year  the  English  boat  has  gone  home  again,  de- 
feated, because  the  American  yacht  has  outsailed 
and  outclassed  her  in  every  way.  You  all  re- 
member hearing  about  the  Reliance  and  the 
Columbia  and  perhaps  some  of  the  other  boats  ; 
but  did  you  know  that  they  were  built  by  one 
firm  of  boat-builders,  and  that  its  president  is 
John  B.  Herreshoff,  a  blind  man? 

John  Herreshoff  has  been  blind  since  he  was 
fourteen  years  old,  but  that  has  not  kept  him 
from  making  a  place  for  himself  in  the  world. 
Many  of  the  fastest  yachts,  he  has  modeled  with 
his  own  hands ;  and  his  knowledge  of  all  kinds 
of  sea-going  craft  is  so  great  that  he  can  tell 
whether  they  can  sail  fast  or  slow,  how  much 


SAMUEL   G.    HOWE 


293 


wind  and  storm  they  can  stand,  and  all  about 
their  value  by  passing  his  fingers  over  the  mod- 
els. He  also  manages  all  the  business  affairs 
of  the  company,  which  makes  torpedo  boats  for 
the  American  and  European  navies,  as  well  as 
fast  yachts  for  international  races. 

Five  hundred  or  even  one  hundred  years  ago, 
it  was  thought  im- 
possible   for   blind 
people    to    earn   a 
living     except     by 

begging-  TneY 
were  often  neg- 
lected and  some- 
times were  even 
harshly  treated. 
As  time  went  on, 
men's  hearts  grew 
more  tender  to  the 
sufferings  of  all 
unfortunate  crea- 
tures, and  more 
was  done  to  make  the  life  of  the  blind  happier. 
Yet  even  then  they  were  not  taught  to  look  out 
for  themselves,  and  few  could  read  or  write. 

About  seventy-five  years  ago,  Samuel  G. 
Howe,  a  young  physician,  gathered  a  little  class 
of  two  or  three  blind  children  to  his  father's 


SAMUEL   G.    HOWE 


294  AMERICAN    PIONEERS 

house  in  Boston.  In  teaching  them,  he  made 
use  of  methods  he  had  seen  in  Europe  and  of 
many  more  that  he  had  planned  for  himself. 
With  great  patience  and  care  he  made  for  them 
a  book  with  raised  characters  by  pasting  string 
on  cardboard,  in  the  form  of  letters  of  the  alpha- 
bet. He  also  manufactured  raised  maps  and 
with  these  taught  lessons  in  geography.  With 
fingers  instead  of  eyes,  the  children  learned 
to  read ;  and  after  a  time  when  they  had 
made  considerable  progress,  he  took  them 
to  various  places  to  show  what  the  blind  could 
do. 

People  became  so  much  interested  in  Doctor 
Howe's  pupils  that  one  man  gave  his  home,  and 
others  gave  money,  that  the  work  might  be  en- 
larged and  more  unfortunate  children  helped. 
In  this  way  the  famous  "  Perkins  Institute  for 
the  Blind"  was  started.  It  would  be  impossible 
to  tell  of  all  the  joy  and  blessing  and  opportu- 
nities for  usefulness  that  this  school  has  given 
to  hundreds  of  boys  and  girls.  One  little  girl 
said,  after  she  had  been  at  the  school  a  short 
time,  "  I  don't  mind  it  now  being  blind,  because 
I  can  go  all  around  and  I  can  sew  and  wash 
dishes  and  have  my  lessons  and  do  just  like  other 
people."  And  many,  many  more  do  not  mind 
being  blind  since  they  too  can  read  and  work 


SAMUEL   G.    HOWE  295 

* 

like  other  people.  Horace  Mann  once  said,  "  I 
would  rather  have  built  up  the  Blind  Asylum 
than  have  written  Hamlet,  and  one  day  every- 
body will  think  so." 

Doctor  Howe  had  shown  that  the  blind  could 
be  taught.  It  had  already  been  clearly  proved 
that  the  deaf  and  the  dumb  could  learn.  But 
the  blind  had  ears  to  help  them  and  the  deaf  had 
eyes.  How  could  a  child  that  had  neither  sight 
nor  hearing  be  taught?  The  question  had  been 
discussed,  but  no  one  had  attempted  to 'answer 
it.  One  summer  while  on  a  vacation  trip  to  New 
Hampshire,  Dr.  Howe  heard  of  a  little  girl  who 
was  not  only  blind  and  deaf  and  dumb,  but  who 
could  not  smell  and  could  taste  but  little.  She 
had  been  like  other  children  until  she  was  two 
years  old.  Then  a  severe  attack  of  scarlet  fever 
had  left  her  in  this  sad  condition.  Only  the 
sense  of  touch  had  been  preserved,  and  all  her 
knowledge  of  things  about  her  must  come  to  her 
through  this  sense  alone.  As  soon  as  she  was 
able  to  walk  she  began  to  make  explorations 
about  the  house.  She  followed  her  mother  wher- 
ever she  went  and  felt  everything  she  did,  and 
in  this  way  she  learned  to  sew  and  to  knit  a  lit- 
tle. It  was  almost  impossible  to  talk  with  her 
except  by  a  few  signs.  A  pat  on  the  head  she 
knew  meant  that  her  friends  were  pleased  with 


296 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


her ;  a  pat  on  the  back  told  her  that  she  had 
done  wrong. 

Doctor  Howe  immediately  became  interested 


DK.    HOWE    TEACHING    LAURA    BR1DGMAN 

in  little  Laura  Bridgman,  and  asked  permission 
to  take  her  to  Boston  in  the  autumn.  All  that 
summer  he  studied  the  problem  of  how  he  could 


SAMUEL  G.    HOWE  297 

teach  the  child  to  know  what  people  said  and  to 
express  her  thoughts  so  that  others  could  under- 
stand. It  seemed  an  impossible  task,  for  she  had 
only  fingers  with  which  to  learn  what  most  chil- 
dren use  eyes,  ears,  nose,  and  tongue  to  get. 

Doctor  Howe  once  said  "  obstacles  are  things 
to  overcome,"  and  with  the  greatest  patience  he 
and  his  assistants  set  to  work  to  overcome  Laura's 
obstacles.  They  selected  a  few  articles  of  every- 
day use — a  spoon,  a  key,  a  knife,  a  fork,  a  chair 
— and  pasted  upon  each  its  proper  name  in  raised 
letters.  Laura's  tiny  fingers  were  guided  over 
the  articles  and  over  the  labels  until  her  instruc- 
tors felt  that  she  knew  that  the  raised  letters  of 
the  word  key  went  with  the  key  itself  and  that 
the  label  that  spelt  fork  belonged  with  the  fork. 
The  next  step  was  to  give  her  the  labels  and  the 
articles  separately.  She  placed  the  label  key 
upon  the  key  and  the  other  labels  in  their  proper 
places  and  was  rewarded  by  a  gentle  pat  on  the 
head.  After  this  Doctor  Howe  gave  her  the 
separate  letters  of  the  different  words,  and  she 
arranged  them  in  their  right  order. 

At  first  she  did  not  seem  to  take  much  interest 
in  the  work ;  but  within  a.  few  days  her  mind 
began  to  awake,  and  then  her  teachers  could 
hardly  keep  pace  with  her  eagerness  to  know  the 
name  of  everything  she  could  put  her  hands  on. 


298  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

Then  she  was  taught  to  use  the  deaf  and  dumb 
hand  alphabet.  In  this  alphabet,  different  posi- 
tions of  the  fingers  mean  different  letters.  Laura 
would  put  her  hand  over  the  hand  of  a  person 
using  these  finger-letters,  and  through  her  sense 
of  touch  she  could  read  off  what  was  meant. 
Soon  her  own  little  fingers  would  spell  out  words 
so  rapidly  that  it  was  often  difficult  to  follow  her. 

One  of  her  early  teachers,  Miss  Drew,  says, 
"  I  shall  never  forget  the  first  meal  taken  after 
she  appreciated  the  use  of  the  finger  alphabet. 
Every  article  she  touched  must  have  a  name,  and 
I  was  obliged  to  call  some  one  to  help  me  wait 
upon  the  other  children,  while  she  kept  me  busy  in 
spelling  the  new  words."  Laura  taught  the  other 
blind  children  about  her  the  use  of  the  deaf  and 
dumb  alphabet,  and  so  with  their  fingers  they  were 
able  to  talk  together  on  each  other's  hands. 

She  had  much  trouble  in  learning  the  irregu- 
larities of  the  English  language,  which  even 
children  with  eyes  and  ears  find  difficult.  She 
easily  understood  that  the  word  hand  meant  just 
one  hand  and  that  if  she  added  s,  hands  meant 
more  than  one.  Therefore  she  wanted  to  form 
all  plurals  by  adding  s  and  thought  that  all  nouns 
that  ended  in  s  were  in  the  plural.  The  story  is 
told  that  one  of  the  girls  in  the  institution  had 
the  mumps.  Laura  learned  the  name  of  the 


SAMUEL   G.    HOWE  299 

disease  and  soon  after  had  it  herself,  but  only  on 
one  side.  Some  one  said  to  her,  "  You  have 
the  mumps."  "  No,"  she  replied,  "  I  have  the 
mump."  The  formation  of  different  tenses  of 
verbs  also  perplexed  her.  When  she  had  learned 
the  difference  between  jump  and  jumped,  she 
thought  that  she  must  always  add  ed  to  form  the 
past  tense  of  every  verb.  One  day  at  dinner  she 
asked  if  she  should  say  eat,  eated,  and  when  told 
that  it  was  eat,  ate,  she  was  very  much  amused 
and  laughed  heartily. 

Six  months  after  Laura  left  her  home  in  Han- 
over, her  mother  came  to  visit  her.  The  child 
was  playing  with  other  children  and  was  entirely 
unconscious  that  her  mother  was  watching  her 
with  tears  running  down  her  cheeks.  Laura  hap- 
pened to  run  against  her,  and  at  once  her  inquisi- 
tive little  fingers  began  to  feel  her  dress.  She 
did  not  know  it  and  returned  to  her  play.  Her 
mother  gave  her  a  string  of  beads  which  she  had 
worn  at  home.  Laura  instantly  remembered 
them  and  with  delight  felt  them  all  over  and  put 
them  round  her  neck.  Mrs.  Bridgman  then  tried 
to  put  her  arms  around  her  child,  but  Laura  would 
not  stay  with  her  and  went  back  to  her  playmates. 

Again  something  from  home  was  given  her, 
and  again  she  recollected  that  it  came  from  Han- 
over. Laura  now  seemed  to  understand  that  the 


300 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


visitor  was  not  a  stranger,  but  some  one  whom 

o 

she  ought  to  know.  She  felt  her  mother's  hands 
all  over,  and  her  face  plainly  showed  that  she 
was  trying  hard  to  remember  who  the  visitor  was. 


LAURA     BRIDGMAN     TEACHING    A    FELLOW     PUPIL   TO    READ    A    BOOK    OF 
RAISED    LETTERS 

Her  mother  drew  her  to  her  and  kissed  her,  and 
then  the  child  recognized  her.  .  Her  school 
friends  no  longer  drew  her  away,  and  she  nestled 
down  happily  in  her  mother's  arms.  When  Mrs. 
Bridgman  went  home,  Laura  did  not  want  to  go 


SAMUEL   G.    HOWE  30 1 

with  her,  though  she  cried  heartily  at  the  parting. 
She  seemed  to  realize  that  only  with  Dr.  Howe 
could  she  learn  what  she  now  so  eagerly  wanted 
to  know. 

The  rest  of  the  story  of  Laura  Bridgman's  life 
is  too  long  to  tell  at  this  time.  We  would  natur- 
ally think  that  a  life  shut  up  behind  the  prison 
bars  of  blindness,  deafness,  and  dumbness  would 
be  a  cheerless  one,  but  Laura  grew  to  be  a  happy 
woman.  She  was  able  in  part  to  earn  her  living 
by  the  work  she  did  with  her  hands,  and  she  was 
also  a  great  help  to  Doctor  Howe  in  teaching 
blind  and  deaf  children.  Her  progress  was 
watched  with  great  interest  by  the  people  of 
England  as  well  as  of  the  United  States.  Doctor 
Howe  became  known  the  world  over  ;  and  schools 
were  started  in  other  parts  of  this  country  and 
in  Europe  which  made  use  of  his  methods  of 
teaching. 

Soon  after  opening  the  Perkins  Institute,  Doc- 
tor Howe  was  faced  with  a  new  difficulty.  There 
were  only  three  books  in  the  whole  school  that 
the  blind  could  read.  In  fact  there  were  very 
few  books  anywhere  that  the  blind  could  use, 
and  these  were  heavy,  unwieldly  volumes,  printed 
in  Europe  on  coarse  paper,  in  clumsy  raised  let- 
ters. Dr.  Howe  called  the  attention  of  the 
public  to  the  uselessness  of  teaching  the  blind  to 


3O2  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

read,  unless  books  were  provided  for  them. 
People  used  to  say  that  all  that  Doctor  Howe 
needed  to  do  was  to  wave  his  wand,  and  every- 
body would  do  his  willr  Contributions  of  money 
began  to  come  in,  and  soon  the  amount  was 
sufficient  to  start  a  new  printing  establishment  in 
America. 

Meanwhile    Doctor    Howe    had    been    doing 


CONGRESSIONAL  LIBRARY  AT  WASHINGTON,  1).  C.,  IN  WHICH  A  ROOM 
FURNISHED  WITH  EMBOSSED-LETTER  BOOKS  IS  SET  APART  FOR 
THE  BLIND 

something  besides  collecting  money.  With  the 
help  of  a  clever  printer,  he  had  invented  a  print- 
ing press  that  would  produce  better  work  than 
the  European  presses.  When  the  books  ap- 
peared, they  were  neat  volumes,  printed  on  thin 
paper,  in  simple  letters  that  could  be  read  easily 


SAMUEL   G.    HOWE  303 

with  the  fingers.  The  whole  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment was  put  into  two  books,  though,  if  a  Euro- 
pean press  had  been  used,  twelve  volumes  would 
have  been  required.  Before  long  all  sorts  of 
books  with  raised  letters  were  printed,  and  their 
price  was  brought  within  the  means  of  the  blind. 

Doctor  Howe  was  not  satisfied  to  make  hap- 
pier the  life  of  the  blind  and  the  deaf  only.  He 
found  time  to  help  any  who  were  in  distress  or 
were  unfortunate.  He  assisted  Miss  Dix  in  her 
work  for  the  insane  ;  he  helped  Horace  Mann  in 
his  school  reforms  ;  he  was  a  friend  to  the  slaves 
and  to  the  poor  and  to  the  sick  everywhere. 
People  so  loved  and  trusted  him  that  they  were 
glad  to  assist  him  in  all  his  plans  ;  but  when  he 
asked  his  acquaintances  to  help  him  start  a  school 
for  idiot  children,  they  thought  that  at  last  he 
had  gone  too  far.  - 

"What  do  you  think  Howe  is  going  to  do 
now?"  said  one  gentleman  to  another  whom  he 
met  on  the  street.  "  He  is  going  to  teach  the 
idiots!  Ha,  ha,  ha!"  And  everybody  else 
laughed  at  the  idea  that  there  could  be  any 
chance  for  boys  and  girls  who  were  born  with  de- 
fective brains.  Doctor  Howe  declared  that  if  a 
child  had  brain  power  to  learn  anything,  he  had 
mind  enough  to  learn  more.  He  persisted  in 
his  efforts  and  finally  succeeded  in  carrying  out 


304  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

his  plans,   and  a  happier  day  began  for  another 
neglected  class  of  children. 

"  Would'st  know  him  now  ?  behold  him 

The  Cadmus  of  the  blind, 
Giving  the  dumb  lip  language, 
The  idiot  clay  a  mind. 

\ 

"Walking  the  round  of  duty 

Serenely  day  by  day, 
With  the  strong  man's  heart  of  labor 
And  the  childhood's  heart  of  play." 

When  you  have  learned  the  entire  story  of 
Doctor  Howe's  unselfish  life,  you  will  want  to 
read  the  whole  of  Whittier's  poem  "The  Hero." 

Dr.  Howe  was  not  made  at  all  sad  by  his  in- 
timacy with  sorrow  and  suffering,  but  ever  kept 
his  happy,  boyish  spirit  that  sometimes  in  his 
school  days  used  to  break  out  beyond  all  bounds. 
It  is  told  that  after  he  left  college  and  was 
ashamed  of  some  of  the  tricks  he  had  played 
there,  he  called  on  the  president,  intending  to 
apologize.  The  president  did  not  receive  him 
very  cordially  and  sat  down  in  a  chair  at  some 
distance  from  his  visitor.  Howe  moved,  and 
the  president  pushed  his  chair  further  away  say- 
ing, "  Howe,  I  am  afraid  of  you  now.  I'm  afraid 
that  there  will  be  a  torpedo  under  my  chair  be- 
fore I  know  it." 

When  Doctor   Howe  died,   Laura  Bridgman 


SAMUEL  G.    HOWE  305 

spelled  out  into  the  hand  of  every  one  she  met, 
11 1  have  lost  my  best  friend  " ;  and  the  children 
in  the  idiot  school  said,  "  He  will  take  care  of 
the  blind  in  Heaven.  Won't  he  take  care  of  us, 
too  ? "  Every  one  who  had  ever  been  helped  by 
Doctor  Howe  felt  that  he  had  lost  his  kindest 
friend. 

"Prisoners  bewail  him,  blind  men  weep  for  him. 
The  dumb  lament,  idiots  mourn, 
The  insane  cry  out  for  him, 
And  the  slaves  sit  down  in  the  dust." 


20 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

SAMUEL   C.    ARMSTRONG 

1839-1893 

'  I  VHE  War  of  Secession  had  not  ended  before 
the  people  of  this  country  discovered  that 
they  had  a  great  problem  to  solve.  What  was  to 
be  done  with  the  four  million  freedmen  ?  For 
nearly  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  they  and  their 
fathers  had  been  slaves.  The  men  and  the 
women  were  strong  in  body,  but  they  were  like 
children  who  had  never  been  taught  to  care  for 
themselves.  They  knew  how  to  work,  but  they 
had  worked  only  under  the  eye  of  an  overseer 
who  kept  them  to  their  tasks.  Whatever  they 
had  earned  belonged  to  their  masters  ;  what  they 
had  to  eat  and  to  wear  was  given  to  them.  They 
knew  nothing  about  saving  or  economizing  ;  few 
had  ever  had  any  responsibility ;  and  most  of 
them  could  neither  read  nor  write.  What  should 
be  done  for  these  poor  and  ignorant  people  ? 

The  negro  said,  "  Teach  me  to  read  and  to 
write  "  ;  and  he  went  to  work  to  learn  the  mys- 
teries of  the  spelling-book  and  the  copy-book. 


SAMUEL   C.    ARMSTRONG 


307 


After  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  some 
negroes  were  enlisted  into  the  army,  and  in  their 
tents  the  spelling-book  and  the  Bible  were  often 
found  lying  side  by  side  with  the  musket  and  the 
knapsack.  People  from  the  North  opened  schools 
here  and  there 
in  the  South  for 
the  freedmen,  but 
only  one  man  was 
wise  enough  to  see 
that  at  that  time 
they  needed  to  be 
taught  something 
besides  the  letters 
of  the  alphabet 
in  order  to  make 
them  useful  citi- 
zens of  the  United 
States.  And  this 
man  was  Samuel 
C.  Armstrong. 

General  Armstrong  was  born  in  the  Sandwich 
Islands,  where  his  parents  were  missionaries. 
There  he  had  seen  how  much  more  successful 
were  the  schools  which  taught  the  natives  the  use 
of  their  hands  as  well  as  their  brains,  than  were  the 
schools  which  made  use  of  books  alone.  He 
suggested  to  a  society  of  Northern  people  that 


SAMUEL    C.    ARMSTRONG 


308  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

they  start  a  school  in  the  Southland  where  the 
freedmen  could  be  taught  not  only  to  earn  their 
living  after  they  were  graduated,  but  to  pay  their 
own  way  while  they  were  in  the  school — a  school 
that  should  train  them  to  go  out  into  negro  com- 
munities and  teach  not  only  the  children,  but 
the  men  and  the  women  how  to  live  industrious, 
honest,  pure  lives. 

People  said,  "  Schools  on  this  plan  have  been 
attempted  before  and  have  been  given  up.  It 
won't  pay." 

"  Of  course,"  replied  General  Armstrong,  "  it 
won't  pay  in  a  money  way,  but  it  will  pay  in  a 
moral  way.  It  will  make  them  men  and  women 
as  nothing  else  will.  It  is  the  only  way  to  make 
them  good  Christians." 

o 

A  tract  of  land  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
acres  was  bought  at  Hampton,  Virginia,  and 
buildings  were  built.  Close  by  this  very  place, 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years  before,  the  first  ship- 
load of  slaves  for  America  was  landed.  General 
Armstrong  had  had  no  expectation  of  being 
closely  connected  with  the  school.  He  had  sug- 
gested the  plan  and  supposed  that  others  would 
work  it  out.  One  day  he  received  a  letter  say- 
ing that  the  one  who  had  been  first  chosen  for 
principal  had  declined  and  asking  him  if  he 
would  take  the  position.  He  had  just  before 


SAMUEL   C.    ARMSTRONG 


309 


been  offered  a  fine  business  opportunity ;  but  he 
answered  "  Yes,"  to  the  letter.  "  Till  then,"  he 
said,  "  my  own  future  had  been  blind.  It  had 
only  been  clear  that  there  was  a  work  to  do  for 
the  ex-slaves,  and  where  and  how  it  should  be 
done."  He  remained  at  the  head  of  the  school 
until  his  death,  and  to  him  is  due  the  wonderful 


A    COOKING    CLASS   AT    HAMPTON    INSTITUTE 

success  not  only  of  the  Hampton  Normal  and 
Agricultural  Institute,  but  of  other  schools  in 
the  South,  which  were  started  on  the  same  plan. 
More  negroes  asked  for  admission  to  the  new 
school  than  could  be  taken  care  of.  Fathers  and 
mothers  who  were  too  old  to  go  to  school  them- 
selves were  willing  to  make  almost  any  sacrifice 
that  their  children  might  go.  It  was  some  time 


3  TO  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

before  accommodations  were  sufficient  for  the 
number  of  students  ;  but  the  boys  cheerfully 
lived  in  tents  during  the  cold  winter  weather,  so 
anxious  were  they  to  learn  the  white  man's  ways. 
The  boys  were  taught  the  proper  care  of  horses 
and  cattle,  how  to  till  the  land  so  that  it  would 
raise  the  largest  crops,  how  to  make  bricks,  how 
to  build  houses  and  barns  and  to  follow  different 
trades.  The  girls  were  taught  how  to  make 
clothes,  to  take  care  of  the  sick,  and  to  cook  in 
wholesome  and  economical  ways. 

No  shiftless  or  poor  work  was  accepted.  Gen- 
eral Armstrong  continually  kept  before  them 
that  any  work,  no  matter  how  humble,  should  be 
clone  thoroughly,  with  the  whole  heart.  This 
idea  of  the  dignity  of  labor  was  entirely,  new  to 
the  freedmen.  In  the  old  days  they  had  worked 
only  because  they  had  to  work.  Now  the  stu- 
dents were  paid  for  what  they  did  on  the.  school 
farm  and  buildings,  and  in  turn  they  paid  for 
their  tuition  and  for  their  clothes  with  the  money 
that  they  earned.  Thus  they  learned  the  use 
and  the  value  of  money,  as  they  never  could 
have  learned  it  if  the  school  and  its  advantages 
had  been  a  free  gift  to  them. 

Hampton  Institute  was  started  to  help  the 
negroes  ,  but  ten  years  after  its  beginning,  an- 
other down-trodden  race  asked  for  admission. 


SAMUEL   C.   ARMSTRONG  311 

There  had  been  an  insurrection  of  Indians  in 
the  West,  and  a  company  of  chiefs  were  brought 
as  prisoners  to  old  Fort  Marion,  in  St.  Augus- 
tine, Florida.  Colonel  Pratt  had  charge  of  them, 
and  he  believed  in  keeping  them  busy.  The 
grounds  of  the  fort  were  stony  and  there  was 
little  that  they  could  do  there,  so  he  found  work 
for  them  in  the  town.  At  first  people  hesi- 
tated to  employ  them,  but  the  Indians  worked 
with  such  good-will  and  to  such  good  purpose 
that  they  soon  had  all  the  work  they  could  do. 

Colonel  Pratt  also  taught  them  to  read  and 
write.  He  gave  them  pencils  and  paper  and  then, 
writing  the  alphabet  on  the  rough  walls  of  the 
fort,  he  pronounced  the  letters  carefully  and  the 
Indians  copied  them.  The  ladies  of  the  town 
also  came  to  the  fort  to  teach  them  ;  and  the 
Indians  became  so  interested  that  when  their 
days  of  captivity  were  over,  twenty-two  decided 
to  stay  in  the  East.  "We  have  started  on  God's 
road  now,"  said  Lone  Wolf,  "  because  God's  road 
is  the  same  for  the  red  man  as  for  the  white 


man." 


Colonel  Pratt  asked  the  Hampton  Institute  to 
open  its  doors  to  them,  and  they  were  admitted. 
The  instructors  wondered  how  the  Indians  and 
the  negroes  would  get  along  together,  but  the 
red  man  went  cheerfully  to  work  and  learned 


312 


AMERICAN    PIONEERS 


as  well  as  the  black  man  how  to  use  the  hoe  and 
the  plow,  the  hammer  and  the  trowel.  A  year 
or  two  afterwards  another  company  of  Sioux  In- 
dians arrived  at  Hampton,  forty  boys  and  nine 
girls.  It  had  been  hoped  that  there  would  be 
as  many  girls  as  boys;  but  the  Indians  were 
much  more  willing  to  send  their  boys  than  their 


THE    BARN    AT    HAMPTON 


girls,  because  in  an  Indian  household,  the  women 
do  all  the  work,  and  the  girls  were  needed  at 
home. 

The  new  comers  were  a  wild-looking  set. 
They  were  dressed  in  the  native  Indian  costume, 
with  bright-colored  blankets  thrown  across  their 
shoulders  and  their  long  hair  braided  in  two 
braids  and  decorated  with  pieces  of  red  flannel. 


SAMUEL  C.    AKMSTRONG  313 

They  were  dirty  and  repulsive.  When  they 
reached  the  school,  they  were  met  by  the  Indian 
students  in  their  neat,  close-fitting  uniforms. 
Soon  it  was  noticed  that  they  were  talking  to- 
gether in  the  old  sign  language.  When  asked 
what  they  said,  one  replied,  "  I  tell  them,  look 
at  me  :  I  will  give  you  the  road." 

The  life  at  Hampton  was  so  different  from  the 
old  life  in  the  Dakota  Hills  that  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  the  Indians  made  mistakes  and 
failed  to  see  the  meaning  of  some  of  the  new 
things  that  they  saw  and  heard.  The  story  is 
told  that  one  of  the  teachers  had  tried  to  show 
them  how  they  could  conquer  some  of  the  temp- 
tations that  came  to  them.  The  next  day  one 
of  the  girls  came  to  her  crying,  "  I  victory  !  I 
victory  !  Louisa  Bullhead  got  mad  with  me. 
She  my  temptation.  I  fight  her  !  I  victory  !  " 

As  the  days  went  by  they  won  other  victories 
than  this.  The  boys  learned  how  to  conquer 
their  old  habits  of  idleness  and  sloth,  and  to  ac- 
custom their  hands  to  other  tools  than  the  rifle 
and  the  knife.  The  girls  overcame  their  indif- 
ference to  dirt  and  filth.  Their  dull  Indian  faces 
grew  brighter  as  their  minds  became  filled  with 
noble  thoughts,  and  they  took  pride  in  doing 
even  simple  work  well. 

The  Dakota  Indians  had  not  been  at  the  school 


3  14  AMERICAN    PIONEERS 

long  before  a  company  of  chiefs  came  on  to 
Hampton  to  see  the  work  that  their  children 
were  doing.  They  were  especially  anxious  to 
see  the  progress  that  Ara-hotch-kish,  the  son  of 
their  second  chief  Hard  Horn,  who  had  not  been 
able  to  come  with  them,  had  made.  They  were 
taken  to  the  paint  shop  where  Ara-hotch-kish 
was  painting  pails.  He  finished  the  pail  he  was 
painting  and  took  up  another.  If  the  chiefs 
pressed  so  closely  as  to  interfere  with  his  work, 
he  calmly  pushed  them  away.  Once  in  a  while 
he  glanced  at  them  from  the  corners  of  his  eyes ; 
but  he  paid  no  further  attention  to  them,  though 
it  was  evident  that  he  thoroughly  enjoyed  let- 
ting the  old  chiefs  see  that  he  could  do  some- 
thing that  they  coulcl  not  do. 

It  was  not  long  before  Indian  boys  and  girls 
did  not  have  to  be  coaxed  to  go  east  to  school. 
Hampton  could  not  take  care  of  them  all,  so  the 
Government  established  a  school  for  them  at  Car- 
lisle, Pennsylvania,  and  placed  Colonel  Pratt  at 
its  head. 

Let  us  now  see  how  the  negroes  put  into  prac- 
tice what  they  learned  at  Hampton.  The  story 
of  the  life  of  one  of  its  most  famous  graduates 
will  show  what  the  race  can  do.  Not  long  after 
the  school  was  started,  a  negro  boy  named  Booker 
T.  Washington  arrived  at  Hampton.  He  had 


SAMUEL   C.    ARMSTRONG 


315 


come  all  the  way  from  West  Virginia.  So  long 
as  his  money  lasted,  he  rode  on  the  train  ;  when 
it  was  gone,  he  walked.  He  had  slept  anywhere 
he  could  find  a  shelter  and  was  so  dirty  that  the 
teachers  hesitated  to  take  him  in.  It  seemed  as 
though  there  could 
be  no  good  in  him. 
As  a  test  he  was  given 
a  room  to  clean.  He 
swept  the  floor  three 
times  and  dusted  it 
four  times.  Not  a 
speck  of  dust  could  be 
found  by  the  teacher 
after  the  most  care- 
ful search,  and  she 
said,  "  I  guess  you 
will  do  to  enter  this 
institution." 

We  can  hardly  im- 
agine the  change  his 
new  life  was  to  him.  He  had  never  seen  a  bath- 
tub or  a  tooth-brush  and  had  never  slept  in  a  bed 
with  sheets.  The  first  night  he  went  to  bed  with 
both  sheets  over  him  ;  the  second,  with  both  under 
him  ;  but  by  the  third  night  he  slept  with  the 
sheets  in  their  proper  places.  Washington 
learned  quickly  and  made  rapid  progress.  He 


HOOKER   T.    WASHINGTON 


316  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

learned  a  great  deal  from  books  and  from  the 
industries  of  the  school,  but  most  of  all  was  he 
influenced  by  the  beautiful  character  of  General 
Armstrong.  He  resolved  that  in  his  turn  he 
would  do  all  that  he  could  for  his  race.  After 
his  graduation  he  remained  six  years  at  Hampton 


CHAPEI,   OF   TUSKEGEE    NORMAL    AM)   INDUSTRIAL    COLI.ECK 

as  a  teacher.  Then  one  day  General  Armstrong 
received  a  letter  asking  if  he  could  recommend  a 
man  to  start  a  school  for  negroes  in  Alabama. 
General  Armstrong  replied  that  he  did  not  know 
of  any  white  man  that  would  do,  but  if  they  were 
willing  to  try  a  colored  man,  he  had  one  that  he 
could  recommend.  The  school  authorities  trusted 


SAMUEL  C.   ARMSTRONG  317 

in  the  wisdom  of  General  Armstrong,  and  Booker 
Washington  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  new 
school.  Under  his  leadership  Tuskegee  has  be- 
come famous,  and  its  pupils  in  their  turn  are  go- 
ing out  to  make  the  lives  of  their  people  better 
and  brighter. 

It  is  not  possible  for  all  black  men  to  be  Booker 
Washingtons  any  more  than  it  is  possible  for  all 
white  men  to  be  General  Armstrongs.  But  in 
their  different  ways  most  of  the  graduates  of 
Hampton  and  of  the  other  colored  schools  are 
doing  what  they  can  to  help  their  race.  In  one 
of  the  towns  of  Alabama  is  a  colored  storekeeper. 
He  has  accumulated  considerable  property,  but 
every  year  he  raises  a  pig  as  an  object  lesson  for 
the  farmers  around  him.  "  I  can't  start  a  school 
here,"  he  said.  "  I  tried  to  and  could  not ;  but 
if  I  can't  do  that,  I  can  at  least  teach  the  farmers 
how  to  raise  hogs  as  I  learned  to  raise  them." 

When  General  Armstrong  died,  he  was  buried 
in  the  school  graveyard,  "  in  the  next  place,"  as 
was  his  wish.  No  sermon  praising  his  deeds  was 
preached,  and  only  a  granite  bowlder  marks  his 
grave.  He  needed  no  memorial  of  bronze  or  of 
marble,  for  his  monument  was  the  useful  lives  of 
thousands  of  negro  and  Indian  men  and  women. 
"  It  pays  to  follow  one's  best  light,"  he  said,  "  to 
put  God  and  country  first,  ourselves  afterward." 


PIONEERS   OF   REFORM 

Philanthropy 
CHAPTER    XXVII 

JOHN    ELIOT 
1604-1690 

H  E,  good  ship  Lyon  came  to  anchor  in  Boston 
harbor  on  November  3,  1631.  She  brought 
a  large  company  of  Puritans  to  join  those  already 
here ;  and  among  them  a  young  clergyman, 
lately  from  his  studies  in  Cambridge,  England. 

John  Eliot  was  a  learned  and  godly  man.  The 
first  year  he  was  here,  he  preached  in  the  little 
church  on  State  Street  in  Boston,  and  the  people 
wished  him  to  stay  with  them  as  assistant  to 
their  pastor  ;  but  many  of  his  friends  had  settled 
at  Roxbury,  and  he  had  promised  to  become  their 
minister.  He  was  installed  pastor  of  the  church 
in  Roxbury  and  served  it  for  fifty-eight  years, 
until  his  death.  He  was  a  very  active  man,  al- 
ways interesting  himself  in  the  well-being  of  his 


JOHN   ELIOT 


319 


church  and  people.  But  the  great  work  of  his 
life  was  not  with  his  church  or  with  the  people 
of  Roxbury,  but  with  the  Indians  of  Massachu- 
setts. He  had  many  helpers,  but  his  own  work 
among  them  was  far  beyond  that  of  any  other 
person. 

The   first  seal    of   the    Massachusetts    colony 


From  the  painting  by  (Ertcl 

JOHN    KLIOT    PREACHING    TO    THK    INDIANS 

was  the  figure  of  an  Indian  with  a  bow  in  one 
hand  and  an  arrow  in  the  other,  and  the  motto, 
"  Come  over  and  help  us."  This  motto  remained 
upon  the  seal  of  the  colony  for  well-nigh  a  cen- 
tury and  a  half.  Then  when  Massachusetts  pro- 
posed to  break  away  from  the  government  of 
Great  Britain,  the  old  legend  was  dropped,  and 
the  line  which  Algernon  Sidney  had  written  in 


320  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

the  autograph  book  of  the  King  of  Denmark 
was  put  in  its  place  :  "  She  "  (that  is,  the  State) 
"  seeks  quiet  peace  by  the  sword  under  liberty." 

When  Sidney,  who  was  a  great  English  pa- 
triot and  lover  of  liberty,  wrote  that  motto,  the 
French  ambassador  took  offense.  He  claimed 
that  it  was  a  fling  at  monarchy  and  cut  it  out  of 
the  king's  book.  A  few  years  before  the  Revo- 
lution, Thomas  Hollis,  another  English  patriot, 
published  a  new  edition  of  Sidney's  works  and 
under  the  frontispiece  opposite  the  title  page 
told  the  story  of  the  motto  and  its  fate  in  the 
king's  book.  Hollis  sent  a  copy  to  the  library 
of  Harvard  College  and  there  a  little  later  the 
patriots  of  Massachusetts,  John  Hancock,  Samuel 
Adams,  John  Adams,  and  the  others  saw  it.  At 
once  they  chose  it  for  the  new  motto  of  the  State 
of  Massachusetts.  So,  to-day,  the  State  seal 
still  shows  the  Indian  with  his  long  bow,  but 
the  motto  is  Ense  petit  placidam,  sub  liber  tate, 
quietem,  or  "  She  seeks  quiet  peace  by  the  sword 
under  liberty." 

The  old  colonial  motto  "  Come  over  and  help 
us,"  shows  that  the  early  settlers  of  Massachu- 
setts intended  to  do  missionary  work  among  the 
Indians.  With  the  very  first  Boston  emigrants 
came  four  ministers,  who  planned  not  only  to 
preach  the  gospel  to  the  English  settlers  but  also 


JOHN   ELIOT  321 

"  to  wynne  the  natives  to  the  Christian  faith." 
John  Eliot,  more  than  any  other,  labored  among 
the  Indians  early  and  late,  by  summer  and  by 


abcchdefg  h  i  j  klmo 
3»    opqtfst  GV  wxyz» 

jABChDEf  GHIKLMJ* 

5  NoeQRsr  uy  w <£ 


) 


i 


2  §  c  i  *  a,  ;£• 

v       ^       Necfo«toowa$(h.         <•*: 

"  tu  ei^uaoioo.CDCi/, 


A  PAGE  OF  ELIOT'S  "INDIAN  PRIMER,"  PRINTED   AT  CAMBRIDGE, 

MASSACHUSETTS,    IN    l66g 

winter,  year  after  year,  throughout  his  long  life. 
He  quickly  learned  their  language,  spent  much 
time  in  their  wigwams,  told  them  of  Go^l  and  of 
Christ,  and  tried  to  help  them  lead  pure  lives. 


21 


322  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

The  sons  of  the  forest  would  gather  around  him 
as  though  he  were  their  father,  and  often  puz- 
zled him  by  their  questions.  "  What  is  a  spirit  ?  " 
they  would  ask.  "Can  the  soul  be  inclosed  in 
iron  so  that  it  cannot  escape  ?"  "  Shall  I  know 
you  in  Heaven  ?  "  "  Our  little  children  have 
not  sinned  ;  whither  do  they  go  when  they  die  ?  " 
"  In  Heaven,  do  they  dwell  in  houses,  and  what 
do  they  do?"  "  When  you  choose  magistrates, 
how  do  you  know  who  are  good  men,  who  can 
be  trusted  to  do  right?" 

Eliot  never  tired  of  answering  their  many 
queries  and  instructing  them  in  the  way  they 
should  serve  God  by  a  better  way  of  living.  He 
taught  the  women  to  spin  and  the  men  to  plant, 
to  hoe,  and  to  harvest  ;  and  he  formed  among 
them  praying  bands,  who  should  worship  the 
only  living  and  true  God,  and  help  each  other. 
His  love  for  them  and  his  ceaseless  efforts  to 
benefit  them  won  for  him  all  hearts  whether  in 
the  houses  of  the  white  men  or  the  "  smoky 
cells"  of  the  natives.  It  was  in  1660  that  John 
Thorowgood,  an  English  writer,  first  of  all  called 
him  "The  Apostle  to  the  Indians."  The  name 
was  so  appropriate  that  he  has  been  so  called 
to  this  day,  and  no  other  man  has  received  the 
title. 

Eliot's  "  praying  bands  "  were  formed  in  seven 


JOHN   ELIOT  323 

towns  where  Indians  lived,  around  Boston,  and 
in  Nantucket,  Martha's  Vineyard,  along  the 
shores  of  Cape  Cod,  and  indeed  toward  the 
west,  among  the  Nipmucks  in  Dudley,  Oxford, 
and  Uxbridge.  Two  Indians  from  Martha's 
Vineyard  took  the  entire  course  of  study  at 
Harvard  College.  One  was  graduated  and  re- 
ceived his  diploma,  but  the  other  was  drowned 
just  before  Commencement  came. 

About  the  year  1650  Eliot  formed  an  Indian 
church  at  a  place  now  known  as  South  Natick, 
but  his  greatest  work  for  the  red  man  was  his 
translation  of  the  entire  Bible  into  the  Indian 
language.  This  book  was  printed  at  Cambridge 
and  was  the  first  Bible  published  in  America. 

While  Eliot  was  at  work  on  his  translation,  he 
came  to  the  fifth  chapter  of  Judges,  verse  twenty- 
eight.  This  reads,  "  The  mother  of  Sisera  looked 
out  of  a  window  and  cried  through  a  lattice." 
He  knew  of  no  Indian  term  for  "lattice,"  so  he 
asked  several  natives  for  the  right  word.  They 
did  not  seem  to  understand  what  he  meant 
though  he  carefully  explained  that  a  lattice  was 
a  kind  of  wicker-work  or  netting.  Finally  an  old 
Indian  gave  him  a  long  unpronounceable  word  ; 
and,  as  he  could  not  do  better,  Eliot  put  it  down. 
Long  afterwards,  when  he  had  become  more  fa- 
miliar with  the  Indian  tongue,  and  was  revising 


324 


AMERICAN    PIONEERS 


his  work  before  giving  it  to  the  printer,  he  was 
surprised    and    amused    to    find    that    the   word 


I 
i 


| 


5  Z 
W UN NEET U  P  AN AT  AM W E 

UP-RiBLUM   GOD  | 

•NANEESWK 

SiUKKONF:    TESTAMENT  g 

KAH    WONK 

WUSKU  TESTAMENT- 


Nc  tjuoQifconurouk  nafhjw  Wimtnneamob  C*1  *• l  S  7        iS 

JOHN     ELIOT- 

M 


was  a  sort  of 
double  basket,  wo- 
ven of  willows  and 
so  arranged  that 
eels  could  swim  in, 
but,  once  in,  could 
not  get  out  again. 

John  Eliot,  noble 
man,  unselfish,  all 
his  life  living 
the  "golden  rule"  ! 
Most  men  would 
have  thought  that 
the  work  of  a  large 
flourishing  church 
like  his  was  enough 
for  any  pastor,  but 

Translated  :  "  The  Whole  Holy  Bible  of  God,    ^[Q 
both  Old  Testament  and  also  New  Testament. 
This  turned  [into    Indian]  by  the  Servant  of    tO 
Christ  who  is  called  John  Eliot.     Cambridge  :  , 

Printed    by    Samuel    Green    and    Marmaduke    1         ing       dlH 

Johnson,  1663 "  privations      if      he 

might  better  the  life  of  one  red  man  of  the 
forest.  When  he  died,  thousands  rose  up  and 
called  him  blessed.  A  little  while  before  his 


From    -Early    Bibles   of    America.'    />,.    ., 

Wright,  D.D.     Thomas  \\~Jiittaker 

INDIAN      TITLE      PAGE      OK      THE      El.HH 

UIBLE    OF    1663 


mUCH  SUI- 


JOHN   ELIOT  325 

death  at  the  great  age  of  four  score  and  six, 
some  one  inquired  of  him  how  he  was,  and  he 
replied,  "  Alas,  I  have  lost  everything ;  my 
understanding  leaves  me;  my  memory  fails; 
my  utterance  has  gone  ;  but,  I  thank  God,  my 
charity  holds  out  still ;  I  find  that  rather  grows 
than  fails."  His  last  words  were  "  Welcome, 
joy." 

"  His  youth  was  innocent ;  his  riper  age 

Marked  with  some  act  of  goodness,  every  day  ; 
And  watched  by  eyes  that  loved  him,  calm  and  sage, 

Faded  his  last  declining  years  away. 
Cheerful  he  gave  his  being  up,  and  went 
To  share  the  holy  rest  that  waits  a  life  well  spent." 


CHAPTER    XXVIII 

PETER   CARTWRIGHT 
1785-1872 

TN  the  early  pioneer  days  in  the  West,  only  the 
larger  villages  had  churches  and  pastors. 
The  frontiersmen  were  too  widely  scattered  to 
gather  together  every  Sunday  and  were  often 
too  poor  to  pay  the  salary  of  a  settled  preacher. 
Therefore  they  were  dependent  upon  the  occa- 
sional visits  of  a  traveling  circuit-rider  for  their 
sermons,  their  funeral  services,  and  their  wed- 
dings. A  circuit-rider's  parish  often  extended 
over  a  distance  of  five  hundred  miles.  He  rode 
his  rounds  on  horseback  and  held  meetings  here 
and  there,  sometimes  in  a  little  log  church,  more 
often  in  a  barn  or  a  house,  most  frequently  in 
the  open  air  with  a  stump  for  a  pulpit.  His 
work  finished  in  one  place,  he  rode  on  to  the 
next  settlement,  returning  again  in  three,  four, 
five,  or  six  weeks,  according  to  the  time  it  took 
to  go  the  rounds. 

These  circuit  preachers  were  earnest  men  who 
did  much    hard   work  and   got   very   little  pay. 


PETER   CARTWRIGHT 


327 


Their  whole  salary  for  a  year  was  frequently  but 
forty  dollars,  which  would  not  buy  many  books 
or  luxuries.      In  fact  some  of  them  were  men  of 
little  education  and  were  rough  in  speech  and 
manners.     They    dressed    in    homespun    woven 
and  made  into  garments  for  them,  frequently  by 
the  women  of  their 
parishes.          They 
slept  at  any  house 
that    would     open 
its  doors   to   them 
or  else  camped  in 
the  open  air.   They 
had    to   encounter 
heat,   cold,  storms, 
swollen  rivers,  and, 
worst    of   all,    des- 
perate men.  There- 
fore,   it    was    nec- 
essary    that     they 
should  be  strong  in 

body,  quick  in  wit,  and  of  great  piety  and  zeal. 
One  of  the  most  noted  of  these  preachers  was 
Peter  Cartwright.  He  rode  the  circuit  for  over 
fifty  years  and  in  that  time  preached  fourteen 
thousand,  six  hundred  sermons.  His  first  circuit 
was  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  The  settle- 
ments were  far  apart,  and  it  took  him  four  weeks 


PETER    CARTWRIGHT 


328  AMERICAN    PIONEERS 

to  complete  his  circuit.  Then  he  had  two  days' 
rest  before  he  began  his  rides  again.  Cartwright 
was  at  this  time  under  twenty  years  of  age,  and 
much  of  his  early  success  was  due  to  his  youth. 
Wherever  he  held  a  meeting,  the  people  would 
flock  to  hear  "the  Kentucky  boy." 

It  was  at  the  close  of  one  of  his  first  appoint- 
ments that  he  started  back  toward  his  father's 
home.  He  had  been  gone  three  years  and  was 
in  a  sorry  state.  His  clothes  were  patched  and 
torn  ;  his  horse  was  blind  ;  his  saddle  was  nearly 
worn  out ;  his  bridle  was  ready  to  drop  to  pieces 
at  any  moment.  He  had  but  seventy-five  cents 
in  his  pocket,  and  five  hundred  miles  to  travel. 
"  No  use  to  parley  about  it,"  he  said.  "Go  on  I 
must,  or  do  worse." 

He  decided  to  go  as  far  as  he  could  with  the 
money  he  had,  then  stop  and  work  awhile  and 
travel  on  again.  He  had  not  ridden  far  before 
he  met  a  woman  he  knew.  "  How  are  you  off 
for  money?"  she  asked.  "I  expect  you  have 
received  but  little  in  this  circuit." 

"I  have  just  seventy-five  cents,"  he  replied. 

She  asked  him  to  her  house  ;  but  when  he  re- 
fused her  invitation,  she  took  out  a  dollar  and 
gave  it  to  him.  It  was  all  the  money  she  had 
with  her. 

The  dollar  and  seventy-five  cents  lasted  until 


PETER   CARTWRIGHT  329 

he  reached  the   Ohio   River.      He  had  nothing  • 
with  which  to  pay  his  fare  across  and  was  about 
to  ask  the  ferryman  to  trust  him  for  the  twenty- 
five    cents,    when    Colonel    Shelby,   his    father's 
neighbor,  rode  up. 

"  Peter,  is  that  you?"  he  cried. 

"Yes,  Moses,  what  little  is  left  of  me." 

"  Well,  from  your  appearance,  you  must  have 
seen  hard  times.  Are  you  trying  to  get  home  ?" 

»'  Yes." 

"  How  are  you  off  for  money,  Peter?"  the 
Colonel  then  asked. 

"  Moses,  I  have  not  a  cent  in  the  world." 

"  Well,  here  are  three  dollars,  and  I  will  give 
you  a  bill  of  the  road  and  a  letter  of  introduction 
till  you  get  into  the  barrens  at  Pilot  Knob." 

Cartwright  thankfully  accepted  the  Colonel's 
help  and  rode  on  until  he  passed  Pilot  Knob, 
and  his  money  was  again  gone.  Night  came  on, 
and  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  seek  shelter  at 
an  inn.  He  told  the  landlord  that  he  had  been 
from  home  three  years  and  that  his  money  was 
gone,  but  he  offered  him  the  few  books  that  he 
had  in  his  saddle-bags  and  an  old  watch.  The 
man  told  him  to  "light  and  be  easy"  and  would 
take  neither  watch  nor  books. 

When  Cartwright  reached  home  his  father 
gave  him  a  new  suit,  a  fresh  horse  and  harness, 


33°  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

*  and  forty  dollars.  He  was  now  ready  for  his 
next  appointment. 

Bishop  Asbury  once  gave  him  the  circuit  that 
included  the  town  of  Marietta  in  Ohio.  Cart- 
wright  did  not  want  to  go  to  Marietta.  It  had 
a  considerable  population  ;  the  people  had  come 
from  New  England,  and  their  customs  were  dif- 
ferent from  those  of  the  Kentucky  pioneers. 
He  was  afraid  of  "  the  Yankees,"  as  he  called 
them,  because  he  had  heard  that  they  lived  en- 
tirely on  pumpkins,  molasses,  fat  meat,  and 
black  tea ;  that  they  could  not  bear  long  sermons, 
and  that  they  were  always  criticizing  "  us  poor 
backwoods  preachers." 

Cartwright  went  to  Bishop  Asbury  and  begged 
him  with  tears  to  put  some  one  else  in  his  place 
and  let  him  go. 

The  bishop  took  him  in  his  arms  and  said, 
"  No,  my  son.  Go,  in  the  name  of  the  Lord.  It 
will  make  a  man  of  you." 

"  Ah,"  Cartwright  thought,  "  if  this  is  the  way 
to  make  men,  I  do  not  want  to  be  a  man."  But 
he  took  his  circuit. 

In  his  autobiography  Cartwright  wrote,  ''If 
ever  I  had  hard  times  it  surely  was  this  year." 
He  found  Marietta  a  good  school,  however,  for  he 
was  obliged  to  study  his  Bible  more  thoroughly 
than  ever  before  in  order  to  hold  his  own  in  his 


PETER   CARTWRIGHT  33! 

discussions  with  the  people.  "  I  had  to  battle  or 
run,"  he  said  ;  and  as  he  never  hesitated  to  do  his 
part  in  any  encounter,  he  did  not  run. 

Cartwright  made  use  of  every  opportunity  to 
preach  a  sermon ;  and  though  many  of  his  methods 
were  peculiar  and  could  never  have  been  used  in 
a  more  civilized  country,  he  met  with  wonderful 
success  in  his  work  and  helped  thousands  of  people 
to  lead  better  lives.  One  evening,  according  to 
his  own  story,  he  rode  up  to  an  inn  and  asked  for 
accommodations  for  the  night.  He  was  told  that 
there  was  to  be  a  dance  there,  arid  that  probably 
he  would  not  find  it  a  pleasant  place  to  stay.  He 
decided  to  remain  and  later  on  went  into  the  dance 
hall.  A  young  woman  seeing  the  stranger  by  the 
door  went  up  to  him  and  asked  him  to  dance. 
Cartwright  quickly  determined  to  try  an  experi- 
ment. He  took  her  by  the  hand  and  walked  into 
the  center  of  the  room.  The  negro  musician  im- 
mediately began  to  tune  up  his  violin,  but  Cart- 
wright told  him  to  wait.  He  then  said  that  he 
never  took  any  important  step  without  asking 
God's  blessing.  He  knelt  in  the  center  of  the 
floor  and  compelled  his  partner  to  kneel  with  him. 
The  company  was  surprised,  to  say  the  least. 
The  negro  fled  to  the  kitchen  crying,  "  What  de 
matter  ?  What  is  dat  mean  ?  "  Cartwright  offered 
his  prayer  and  preached  his  sermon,  and  it  resulted 


332 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


in    his    forming  a  church  there    with  thirty-two 
'members. 

In  that  rough  time  and  place  the  rowdies  fre- 
quently tried  to  break  up  the  camp-meetings,  and 
the  preachers  were  often  obliged  to  meet  them  in 


MI'-MEKTING    GROl'NU    OF    THE    WEST 


open  battle  with  sticks  and  staves.  A  central  place 
was  chosen  for  a  camp-meeting ;  and  the  people 
for  miles  around  came  in  their  wagons,  pitched 
their  tents,  and  remained  several  days.  Meet- 
ings were  carried  on  night  and  day  by  different 
preachers.  At  one  of  these  camp-meetings  the 


PETER   CARTWRIGHT  333 

leaders  had  had  an  unusually  rough  time,  but  had 
succeeded  in  overcoming  their  tormentors.  After 
quiet  had  been  gained,  Cartwright  said  to  one  of 
the  other  preachers,  "  I  feel  a  clear  conscience 
to  preach,  for  under  the  circumstances  we  have 
done  right.  Now  I  ask  you  to  let  me  preach." 

"  Do,"  the  men  replied,  "  for  there  is  no  other 
man  on  the  ground  that  can  do  it." 

The  camp  was  lighted,  the  trumpet  blown,  the 
people  collected,  and  Cartwright  preached  as 
though  he  had  never  been  engaged  in  a  fight  in 
his  life. 

He  was  clearly  the  favorite  with  the  younger 
people  as  one  other  story  will  show.  Another 
camp-meeting  had  been  much  disturbed  by  a  com- 
pany of  boys.  Cartwright  went  back  and  told 
them  that  they  ought  to  hear  the  preacher. 

"  Oh!  if  it  were  you  we  would  gladly  hear  you," 
they  cried. 

"  Boys,  do  you  really  want  to  hear  me  ?  "  he 
asked. 

"Yes,  we  do,"  and  the  answer  came  with  an 
enthusiasm  that  showed  they  meant  what  they 
said. 

"  Well,  if  you  do,  go  and  gather  all  those  in- 
attentive groups  and  come  to  the  grove  two  hun- 
dred yards  south,  and  I  will  preach  to  you.'i 

Two  or  three  hundred  collected  and  sat  down 


334  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

in  the  shade.  Cartwright  mounted  a  stump  and 
preached  an  hour  or  more,  and  they  listened 
attentively. 

When  Cartwright  was  an  old  man,  he  was  sent 
from  Illinois  to  a  general  conference  of  the 
Methodist  Church  at  Boston.  His  fame  had 
reached  even  to  the  East,  and  people  were  anx- 
ious to  hear  the  pioneer  preacher  of  the  West. 
He  received  an  invitation  to  preach  one  Sunday 
morning  in  a  Boston  church.  He  realized  that 
Eastern  congregations  were  accustomed  to  very 
different  addresses  from  those  that  would  interest 
a  backwoods  audience.  So  he  made  careful  prep- 
arations and  preached  what  he  thought  was  his 
best  sermon  in  a  grave  and  dignified  manner.  Of 
course  he  made  a  complete  failure.  He  was  not 
himself,  and  it  was  the  real  Peter  Cartwright  that 
the  Boston  people  wished  to  hear.  They  were 
disappointed  and  did  not  hesitate  to  say  so. 

11  Is  this  Peter  Cartwright  of  Illinois,  the  old 
western  pioneer?"  some  one  asked  after  the 
service. 

"  Yes,  I  am  the  very  man." 

"  Well,  brother,  we  are  much  disappointed. 
You  have  fallen  much  under  our  expectations. 
We  expected  to  hear  a  much  greater  sermon 
thai\you  have  preached  to-day." 

"  How  can  it  be  helped,  brother  ?  "  he  replied. 


PETER   CARTWRIGHT  335 

"  I  did  as  well  as  I  could  and  was  nearly  at  the 
top  of  my  speed." 

The  next  time  he  was  asked  to  preach,  he  pre- 
pared his  sermon  with  even  greater  care  and  de- 
livered it  in  the  same  quiet  way.  Again  he  failed 
to  interest  the  people  and  was  so  hurt  and  dis- 
couraged that  he  did  not  want  to  preach  again 
in  Boston.  "Your  good  people  have  not  got 
enough  sense  to  know  a  good  sermon  when  they 
hear  it,"  he  said. 

When  he  was  invited  to  preach  at  the  Seamen's 
Bethel,  its  pastor  said,  "  Why  don't  you  take  off 
your  coat  and  roll  up  your  sleeves  and  give  it  to 
them  in  true  Western  style  ?  " 

"  If  you  will  let  me  preach  as  we  do  in  the 
West,  I  have  no  objection  to  preaching  to  your 
congregation  or  anywhere  in  Boston,"  he  replied. 

That  night  Cartwright  gave  his  sermon  as 
though  he  were  speaking  to  one  of  his  old  con- 
gregations in  the  woods.  This  time  his  audience 
was  not  disappointed  in  him  ;  and  after  that, 
wherever  he  spoke,  the  room  was  filled  to  over- 
flowing. 

The  old  pioneer  days  have  long  since  passed 
away  in  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Illinois,  Indiana, 
and  Ohio.  To-day  Peter  Cartwright  would  be 
as  much  out  of  place  there  as  he  was  fifty  years 
ago  in  Boston.  In  fact  long  before  he  died  the 


336 


AMERICAN    PIONEERS 


fine  churches  and  the  pipe  organs  and  the  edu- 
cated ministers  that  were  rapidly  increasing  in 
the  West  made  him  heart-sick.  His  methods 
and  his  preaching  were  fitted  only  for  the  rough 
pioneer  life  of  the  time.  He  gave  his  people 
what  they  wanted  and  served  them  faithfully 
through  a  long,  busy  life. 


Fort  Dearborn,    the   Beginning  of  Chicago,    Illinois,  in   1810 


CHAPTER   XXIX 

DOROTHEA    LYNDE   DIX 
1805-1887 

TN  all  past  ages  the  weak,  the  lame,  the  blind, 
the  insane  were  supposed  to  be  beyond  cure 
or  even  help.  Only  within  recent  years  have 
the  strong  tried  to  better  the  condition  of  those 
they  once  despised.  As  the  teachings  of  Christ 
have  been  more  thoroughly  understood  and  more 
closely  followed,  a  brighter  day  has  dawned  for 
the  unfortunate  and  the  oppressed.  The  story 
of  the  education  of  Laura  Bridgman  urged 
forward  all  lovers  of  mankind  to  renew  their  ef- 
forts to  help  other  sufferers.  The  reformation 
and  the  useful  lives  of  such  men  as  John  B. 
Gough  and  Jerry  McAuley  encouraged  many  to 
make  an  earnest  effort  to  break  their  bonds  of 
drunkenness  and  sin. 

In  former  days  insane  people  were  too  often 
judged  to  be  under  the  control  of  Satan,  and  any 
effort  to  lessen  their  sufferings  or  to  improve 
their  condition  seemed  the  same  as  helping  the 
evil  one.  In  England,  more  than  a  century  ago, 


33$ 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


the  Society  of  Friends  had  established  an  insti- 
tution called  "  The  Retreat,"  which  was  very 
successful  in  its  care  of  the  insane.  In  this  coun- 
try, as  early  as  1750,  Benjamin  Franklin  and 
others  added  a  department  for  these  unfortunate 
people  in  the  new  Pennsylvania  Hospital ;  but 

very  little  was  done 
for  their  benefit, 
either  in  this  coun- 
try or  in  Europe 
until  DorotheaDix, 
withstrong,  unyield- 
ing purpose  began 
her  heroic  work.  It 
was  a  great  under- 
taking, but  she 
was  in  every  way 
fitted  for  the  ser- 
vice. Most  persons 
would  have  been 
overcome  by  the 

greatness  of  the  task  and  the  many  discourage- 
ments ;  but  whatever  Miss  Dix  fairly  began, 
indeed  what  she  once  fully  decided  upon,  was 
sure  to  be  a  success.  It  could  not  be  otherwise. 
Dorothea  Dix,  from  early  childhood,  had  seen 
the  hard  side  of  life.  Her  younger  years  were 
far  from  happy.  From  the  time  she  was  twelve, 


DOROTHEA    LYNDE    DIX 


DOROTHEA   LYNDE   DIX  339 

her  home  was  with  her  grandparents  in  Boston. 
They  were  well-to-do  and  highly  respectable,  yet 
they  starved  her  heart  and  stunted  her  imagina- 
tion. Her  home  was  a  grim  and  joyless  one ; 
and  she  herself  said  later  in  life,  "  I  never  knew 
childhood."  Yet  it  would  seem  that  the  very 
hardness  of  her  early  life  only  fitted  her  for  her 
life-work.  She  took  up  the  problem  of  bettering 
the  condition  of  the  more  unfortunate  portion  of 
our  race,  with  a  will  and  a  determination  that 
would  stop  at  no  denial  and  yield  to  no 
obstacle. 

After  some  years  of  successful  teaching  and 
after  two  years  of  travel  in  the  West  Indies  and 
in  Europe,  her  mind  was  opened  to  the  neglect 
and  the  sufferings  of  the  weak-minded  and  the 
insane.  Indeed,  people  to-day  can  scarcely  be- 
lieve the  conditions  which  she  found  to  exist  in 
all  the  states  of  our  country  as  well  as  in  Europe. 
In  the  hospitals  of  Great  Britain  the  patients 
were  confined  in  cells  with  no  floors  but  the 
earth,  with  no  windows,  and  with  no  ventilation. 
The  straw  upon  which  they  slept  was  changed 
once  a  week  and  at  this  time  only  were  the  occu- 
pants taken  out  into  the  open  air.  They  received 
very  little  medical  treatment,  and  what  they  did 
have  was  the  opposite  of  what  should  have  been 
given  them.  Instead  of  being  strengthened  by 


340 


AMERICAN    PIONEERS 


proper  food  and  care,  they  were  bled  regularly 
once  a  month  and  weakened  by  medicines. 
"This  has  been  the  practice,"  said  a  physician, 


'  for  long  years  before  my 
time,  and  I  do  not  know  of 
any  better  way." 

Miss  Dix  visited  the  pris- 
ons, the  hospitals,  and  the  insane  retreats  in 
every  state  this  side  of  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
arid  what  she  found  everywhere  was  appalling: 
"  Insane  persons  confined  in  cages,  closets,  eel- 


DOROTHEA   LYNDE  DIX  341 

lars,  stalls,  pens ;  chained,  naked,  beaten  with 
rods,  and  lashed  into  obedience." 

In  one  case  an  insane  man  had  been  confined 
for  years  in  a  dungeon  or  cell  "  from  six  to  eight 
feet  square,  built  entirely  of  stone — sides,  roof, 
and  floor,"  with  no  light,  no  fresh  air,  no  heat 
even  in  winter,  and  no  ventilation.  This  is  only 
a  single  example  of  what  Miss  Dix  found  here 
and  there  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  the 
story  is  too  dreadful  to  repeat.  Let  us  draw  a 
veil  over  the  sad  picture  and  follow  Miss  Dix  to 
see  what  success  she  met  in  changing  the  treat- 
ment of  the  insane. 

In  the  city  of  Providence  there  was  a  small 
asylum  that  gave  to  its  patients  wise  and  kind 
care,  but  it  was  too  overcrowded  to  do  the  work 
it  wished  to  do.  Miss  Dix  determined  to  solicit 
funds  from  a  Rhode  Island  merchant  of  large 
means,  to  enlarge  the  buildings.  Like  many 
men  absorbed  in  the  pursuit  of  wealth,  he  had 
acquired  so  great  a  passion  for  money  getting 
that  it  was  well-nigh  impossible  to  persuade  him 
to  give  away  a  single  dollar.  Every  one  to  whom 
she  made  known  her  plan  smiled,  and  some  re- 
minded her  that  she  might  as  well  try  to  get 
"milk  out  of  a  stone."  However,  she  called  at 
the  house  of  the  close-fisted  millionaire  and  had 
an  interview  with  him. 


342  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

Through  force  of  habit,  he  sought  to  put  her 
off  by  talking  about  the  weather  and  any  topic 
but  that  for  which  she  had  come.  Miss  Dix 
kept  her  good  humor,  until  at  last  she  rose  from 
her  chair  and  with  "commanding  dignity"  said, 
"  Mr.  Blank,  I  wish  you  to  hear  what  I  have  to 
say.  I  wish  to  bring  before  you  certain  facts, 
involving  terrible  suffering  to  your  fellow-crea- 
tures all  around  you — suffering  which  you  can 
relieve.  My  duty  will  end  when  I  have  done 
this,  and  with  you  will  then  rest  the  responsibil- 
ity." Then  she  told,  with  a  feeling  that  she 
could  hardly  control,  the  pathetic  story  of  what 
she  had  seen  with  her  own  eyes  in  the  state  of 
Rhode  Island — case  after  case  of  most  inhuman 
cruelty  like  that  related  above. 

He  listened  spell-bound  till  she  ended  and 
then  said  abruptly,  "  Miss  Dix,  what  do  you 
want  me  to  do  ?" 

"Sir,  I  want  you  to  give  fifty  thousand  dollars 
toward  the  enlargement  of  the  insane  hospital  in 
your  city." 

"  Madam,  I'll  do  it  !  "  was  the  answer. 

This  was  Miss  Dix's  second  victory.  The 
first  had  been  the  securing  from  the  Mas- 
sachusetts legislature  two  hundred  thousand 

o 

dollars  for  the  hospital  for  the   insane   at  Wor- 
cester. 


DOROTHEA    LYNDE  DIX  343 

Thus  was  begun,  not  much  more  than  sixty 
years  ago,  a  movement  which  has  changed  the 
whole  opinion  of  the  people  of  our  country,  and 
indeed  of  the  countries  of  Europe,  as  to  the  con- 
dition and  the  needs  of  the  unfortunate  insane. 
All  has  not  been  done  for  them  that  is  needed, 
but  a  complete  change  has  been  made  in  their 
treatment. 

Time  will  fail  to  tell  of  the  great  work  done 
by  Miss  Dix  for  the  insane  and  for  criminals  as 
well,  in  our  own  country  and  in  Europe.  She 
was  so  eager  and  so  enthusiastic  that  people 
could  not  resist  her  appeals  for  help.  They 
opened  their  hearts  and  their  purses.  During 
the  ten  years  between  1850  and  1860  she  prob- 
ably obtained  more  money  as  gifts  for  purely 
benevolent  purposes  than  any  other  person  ever 
secured,  in  the  Old  World  or  the  New.  Even 
the  children  in  the  homes  where  she  visited  gave 
their  toys  to  the  poor  children  that  Miss  Dix 
was  trying  to  help. 

When  the  War  of  Secession  broke  out,  Miss 
Dix  at  once  offered  her  services  to  the  Secretary 
of  War  as  a  nurse  ;  and  during  those  terrible 
four  years  of  bloody  strife  and  fierce  battles,  she 
spent  her  time  in  improving  the  hospitals  and 
relieving  the  sufferings  of  thousands  upon  thou- 
sands of  the  sick  and  the  wounded. 


344 


AMERICAN    PIONEERS 


When  the  war  was  over  and  peace  once  more 
spread  her  white  wings  over  our  broad  country, 
Miss  Dix  set  herself  to  work  to  raise  the  funds 
to  build  a  monument  in  memory  of  the  six  thou- 
sand soldiers  who  were  buried  in  the  National 

Cemetery 


near 

Fortress  Mon- 
roe. Her  heart 
had  been  so 
touched  by  the 
heroism  of  the 
soldiers  and  their 
patience  when 
sick  and  suffer- 
ing, that  she  was 
determined  that 
the  stone  for 
this  monument 
should  be  the 
best  that  could 
be  obtained.  She 
visited  quarry 
after  quarry  until 
she  found  a  granite  that  was  hard  enough  and 
beautiful  enough  to  satisfy  her.  To-day  in  that 
National  Cemetery,  under  the  shade  of  cedars  and 
magnolias,  more  than  twelve  thousand  Union 
soldiers  sleep,  while  the  monument,  seventy-five 


CARING    FOR    THE    WOUNDED    ON   THE 
BATTLEFIELD 


DOROTHEA   LYNDE   DIX  345 

feet  in  height,  stands  guard  by  night  and  by  day. 
"  It  promises  to  stand  for  centuries  unless  an 
earthquake  should  shake  it  down,"  she  said  when 
it  was  lifted  to  its  place. 

Our  heroine  now  took  up  again  her  hospital 
service  and  for  years  carried  on  her  Christ-like 
work,  especially  in  the  southern  states.  She 
succeeded  in  getting  aid  from  the  legislatures  of 
thirteen  states  for  state  lunatic  asylums.  She 
was  the  direct  means  of  founding,  or  enlarging, 
thirty-two  hospitals  including  two  entirely  new 
asylums  at  Halifax  and  at  St.  John.  Then  by 
her  influence  in  her  last  days,  there  were  added 
to  this  list  two  more  in  far-away  Japan,  with 
others  still  to  follow.  When  the  great  Chicago 
and  Boston  fires  came,  she  collected  large  sums 
of  money  from  her  friends,  and  quietly  and  with 
good  judgment  searched  out  for  herself  where 
help  was  most  needed  to  lessen  the  wide-spread 
distress. 

At  length,  when  more  than  fourscore  years 
old,  and  ill  and  worn  out  with  her  work,  she  was 
invited  to  make  her  home  in  the  Asylum  in 
Trenton,  New  Jersey,  the  first  of  the  many  insti- 
tutions founded  by  her.  There,  for  five  years 
she  lingered,  cheered  by  the  letters  and  visits  of 
many  devoted  friends.  She  died  on  July  iQth, 
1887,  and  was  buried  in  Mount  Auburn  Ceme- 


346 


AMERICAN    PIONEERS 


tery  at  Cambridge,  Massachusetts.  One  who 
witnessed  her  death  and  burial  wrote  as  follows  : 
"Thus  has  died  and  been  laid  to  rest  in  the 
most  quiet  and  unostentatious  way  the  most 
useful  and  distinguished  woman  America  has 
yet  produced." 


The  Old  Jail   in   New  York  City 


CHAPTER    XXX 

JOHN    BARTHOLOMEW    GOUGH 
1817-1886 

'  I  ""HE  famous  temperance  lecturer,  John  B. 
Gough,  in  the  story  of  his  life  tells  us  the 
following  incident,  which  is  here  somewhat  short- 
ened :  "  On  the  last  Sunday  evening  of  October, 
1842,  I  wandered  out  into  the  streets  thinking  of 
my  lonely  and  friendless  condition.  My  frame 
was  much  weakened  by  long  indulgence  in  alco- 
holic liquors,  and  was  little  fitted  to  bear  the 
cold  of  winter. 

"  As  I  shuffled  along  the  sidewalk,  some  one 
tapped  me  on  the  shoulder.  It  was  the  first 
touch  of  kindness  which  I  had  known  for  months. 
He  said,  '  Mr.  Gough,  I  believe.' 

"  '  That  is  my  name,'  I  replied. 

"  '  You  have  been  drinking,  to-day.' 

"  '  Yes,  sir,  I  have.' 

"  '  Why  do  you  not  sign  the  pledge  ?' 

"I  considered  for  a  moment  or  two,  and  then 
informed  the  strange  friend  that  I  had  no  hope 
of  ever  becoming  a  sober  man  ;  that  I  was  with- 


348 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


out  a  single  friend  in  the  world  who  cared  for 
me  or  what  became  of  me  ;  that  I  fully  expected 
to  die  soon, — I  cared  not  how  soon,  or  whether 
I  died  drunk  or  sober ;  and  in  fact  that  I  was  in 
a  condition  of  utter  despair. 

"  The  stranger  regarded  me  with  a  kind  look, 

took  me  by  the 
arm  and  asked  me 
how  I  should  like 
to  be  as  I  once 
was,  respectable 
and  esteemed,  well 
clad,  and  sitting 
as  I  used  to,  in  a 
place  of  worship, 
enabled  to  meet 
my  friends  as  in 
old  times — in  fact 
become  a  useful 
member  of  society. 
"'  Oh,'  I  replied, 
'I  should  like  all 
these  things  well 
change  cannot  be  pos- 


JOHN    H.    GOUGH 


but   such    a 


enough 
sible.' 

"•'  Only  sign  our  pledge  and  I  will  warrant  that 
it  will  be  so.  Sign  it,  and  I  will  introduce  you 
myself  to  good  friends,  who  will  feel  an  interest 


JOHN   BARTHOLOMEW   GOUGH  349 

in  your  welfare  and  take  pleasure  in  helping  you 
to  keep  your  promise.  Only,  Mr.  Gough,  sign 
the  pledge,  and  all  will  be  as  I  have  said ;  aye, 
and  more  too.' 

"  Oh,  how  pleasantly  fell  those  words  of  kind- 
ness and  promise  on  my  crushed  and  bruised 
heart !  A  chord  had  been  touched  which  vibrated 
to  the  tone  of  love.  Hope  dawned,  and  I  began 
to  think  that  such  things  as  my  friend  promised 
me  might  come  to  pass. 

"  '  Well,'  I  said,  '  I  will  do  it.' 

"'When?'  he  asked. 

"  '  I  cannot  do  it  to-night,  for  I  must  have 
more  drink  presently ;  but  I  certainly  will  to- 
morrow night.' 

" '  We  have  a  temperance  meeting  to-morrow 
evening,  will  you  sign  it  there?' 

"'I  will.' 

"  '  That  is  right,'  he  said,  grasping  my  hand. 
*  I  will  be  there  to  see  you.' 

"  'You  shall,'  I  remarked,  and  we  parted." 

That  night  Gough  drank  till  he  was  very 
drunk,  staggered  home,  threw  himself  upon  his 
bed  and  lay  in  a  stupor  until  morning.  He  de- 
scribes in  a  most  pathetic  manner  his  condition 
the  next  day,  but  tells  us  that  when  evening  came 
he  attended  the  temperance  meeting  and  signed 
the  pledge,  in  the  presence  of  a  large  company. 


350  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

"  In  my  palsied  hand  I  with  difficulty  grasped 
the  pen  ;  and,  in  characters  almost  as  crooked  as 
those  of  old  Stephen  Hopkins  on  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  I  signed  the  total  absti- 
nence pledge  and  resolved  to  free  myself  from 
the  inexorable  tyrant — rum." 

Here  was  the  turning  point  in  the  life  of  the 
man.  He  had  been  a  confirmed  drunkard.  His 
young  wife  and  child  had  died  in  poverty,  after 
which  his  downward  career  had  been  rapid.  Now 
there  was  a  chance  for  a  better  life.  Would  he 

succeed  in   reaching  it  ?  or    would    he  fall  back 
& 

again  as  so  many  had  done  before  him  ? 

John  Bartholomew  Gough  was  a  native  of 
Kent  County,  England.  His  father  was  a  pri- 
vate soldier  in  the  British  army.  His  mother 
was  a  good  woman  who  tried  to  start  her  boy 
on  the  road  to  industry  and  an  honorable  life. 
When  he  was  twelve  years  of  age,  he  was  sent 
over  to  America  with  a  family  of  English  emi- 
grants. At  fourteen  he  drifted  to  New  York 
City.  He  apprenticed  himself  to  learn  the  book- 
binder's trade  and  earned  two  dollars  and  fifty 
cents  a  week,  two  dollars  of  which  he  paid  for 
his  board.  Later  he  sent  for  his  mother  and  sis- 
ter to  come  from  England  to  live  with  him. 
Then  in  the  cold  winter,  when  business  was  dull, 
the  boy  and  his  sister  lost  their  positions.  The 


JOHN   BARTHOLOMEW   GOUGH  351 

family  moved  into  a  garret.  They  had  neither 
food  nor  fuel  for  many  days. 

His  mother  became  ill  ;  and  in  desperation  one 
day  the  boy  rushed  out,  pawned  his  coat,  and 
bought  a  little  meat  and  broth  for  her.  But  the 
poor  mother  died  and  was  buried  in  a  pauper's 
grave.  Then  began  his  downfall.  Yielding  to 
the  influence  of  bad  company,  for  more  than  nine 
years  he  went  from  bad  to  worse. 

Drunkenness  is  a  terrible  vice,  and  finally  be- 
comes a  disease  from  which  recovery  is  extremely 
difficult.  But  although  he  had  been  a  confirmed 
drunkard,  Mr.  Gough  conquered  his  craving  for 
drink  and  became  a  man.  After  signing  the 
pledge,  he  was  filled  with  a  burning  desire  to 
help  other  drinking  men  to  reform.  A  bitter 
experience,  however,  was  before  him.  Deceived 
by  others  and  led  into  temptation,  twice  Mr. 
Gough  yielded  and  fell  ;  but  he  quickly  recov- 
ered himself,  acknowledged  his  fall,  and  started 

.TON  ACCESSION 

anew. 

Then  began  a  remarkable  career  of  honor  and 
usefulness.  John  B.  Gough  became  the  most 
popular  orator  of  his  age  and  the  greatest  tem- 
perance lecturer  the  world  has  ever  seen.  For 
nearly  forty  years  he  was  busy,  early  and  late, 
never  sparing  himself  in  his  endeavors  to  ad- 
vance the  cause  of  temperance  in  this  country 


352  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 

and  the  British  Isles.  He  was  honored  and  loved 
by  all. 

His  mind  was  always  alive  to  the  humorous, 
and  he  enlivened  his  lectures  with  amusing  inci- 
dents to  illustrate  the  point  he  wished  to  make. 
At  one  time  he  mentioned  the  word  "  compro- 
mise." He  said  that  many  medical  men  were 
coming  up  over  all  England  with  compromises. 
He  remarked,  "  I  don't  like  compromises.  Com- 
promises remind  me  of  a  story  that  a  negro  once 
told."  Then  in  his  inimitable  way  he  told  how 
one  negro  met  another  and  said,  "  Sambo,  does 
you  know  dat  I  was  sorely  tempted  t'oder  night? 
Yes,  sir,  I  was  sorely  tempted  ;  but  bress  de  Lord 
I  'stood  de  temptation." 

"  Why,  how  was  dat  ? "  said  Sambo. 

"  Well,  you  know,  Misser  Jonsing's  shoe  store. 
I  was  in  dere  t'oder  evening  an'  I  look  up  on  de 
shelf  an' dere  stood  a  new  pair  of  boots,  dat  would 
jest  fit  me — I  knowed — jest  my  size,  number  four- 
teen— jest  my  size,  an'  my  old  boots  all  wore  out 
at  de  side  and  de  bottoms  all  frew,  an'  I  needed 
a  new  pair  dreffully.  Jess  den,  Misser  Jonsing 
went  out  an'  left  me  dere  all  alone.  Den  de  debel 
said,  '  Did  you  eber  see  such  a  nice  pair  ob  boots? 
Take  'urn,  take  'um.'  But  the  Lord  stood  by  an' 
said,  '  Let  dem  boots  alone.  Don't  take  'um. 
Dat's  stealin'.'  Dere  was  de  Lord  on  one  side 


JOHN  BARTHOLOMEW  GOUGH  353 

alone,  an'  dere  was  I  an'  de  deb  el  on  de  oderside, 
—a  clear  majority.  Now  I  might  ha'  taken  dem 
boots  an'  put  'em  under  my' coat  here  an'  gone 
out  an'  nobody  'ucl  known  it.  But,  bress  de  Lord, 
I  'stood  de  temptation.  I  compromised  an'  took 
a  pair  ob  shoes  instead." 

This  shows  how  well  Mr.  Gough  could  use  an 
anecdote  to  interest  and  convince  his  hearers  ; 
and  he  did  convince  them.  Here  is  another  of 
his  illustrations  : 

"  Many  persons  .complain  that  we  attack  a 
good  thing.  A  gentleman  once  said  to  me  that 
we  were  attacking  that  which  was  a  very  excel- 
lent thinof  under  certain  circumstances.  A  friend 

o 

of  mine  on  one  occasion  said  to  me  that  whiskey 
had  saved  a  great  many  lives,  and  I  thought  that 
I  would  tell  him  a  story.  I  said,  'You  remind 
me  of  a  boy  who  wrote  a  composition  about 
"Pins.."  He  said,  '  A  pin  is  a  very  queer  thingr 
with  a  round  head  and  a  small  point.  If  you  stick 
pins  into  you  they  hurt.  Men  use  pins  when  the 
buttons  are  off.  •  You  can  buy  pins  for  five  cents 
a  paper  ;  and  if  you  swallow  a  pin  it  will  kill  you  ; 
and  they  have  saved  thousands  of  lives.' 

"  The  teachersaid,  *  Why,  Jimmy,  how  do  you 
mean  that  they  have  saved  thousands  of  lives  ? ' 

"  '  By  people  not  swallowing  them/  was  the 
reply.  So  we  allow  that  whiskey  has  saved 
23 


354  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


thousands    of   lives  by   people    not    swallowing 


it." 


At  another  time  he  told  of  a  gentleman  who 
contended  that  alcohol  was  a  food,  that  it  im- 
parted strength  and  therefore  it  must  have  nour- 
ishment in  it.  Mr.  Gough  questioned  the  state- 
ment that  it  imparted  strength.  The  man  replied 
that  one  under  the  influence  of  intoxicants  could 
do  what  he  could  not  have  done  without  the  liquor. 
Mr.  Gough  then  said  that  one  could  do  under 
excitement  what  he  could  not  have  done  without 
the  excitement,  although  no  additional  strength 
had  been  imparted. 

His  opponent  objected  :  "  No,  no.  If  there 
were  activity  and  excitement  imparted,  there  must 
have  been  nourishment  imparted." 

"  But,"  Mr.  Gough  replied,  "  if  you  break  into  a 
hornet's  nest,  there  is  no  '  nourishment '  received 
there  ;  but  there  is  a  great  deal  of  excitement. 
I  tell  you,  you  would  do  under  such  circumstances 
what  you  would  never  do  otherwise,  and  perhaps 
you  would  run  faster  than  ever  you  did  before  in 
your  life,  without  a  particle  of  strength  or  nour- 
ishment having  been  given  you." 

John  B.  Gough  swayed  his  audiences  in  a  most 
powerful  manner.  Few,  if  any,  orators  in  the 
wide  world  during  the  forty  years  of  his  public 
life  exerted  a  broader,  deeper,  or  more  weighty 


JOHN    BARTHOLOMEW   GOUGH  355 

influence  for  good.  After  his  second  extended 
tour  through  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland, 
Mr.  Gough  sailed  for  home  in  August,  1860. 
His  last  lecture  in  London  was  given  to  an  im- 
mense audience  in  Exeter  Hall,  where  he  had 
spoken  ninety-five  times.  Those  who  had  signed 
the  pledge  in  Exeter  Hall  had  subscribed  for  an 
elegant  Bible  which  was  then  presented  to  him. 
In  it  were  written  the  names  of  the  numerous 
givers,  and  it  was  indeed  a  beautiful  gift.  Mr. 
Gough  says  : 

"  When  the  Bible  was  presented  I  rose  to  reply, 
and  no  school-boy,  on  his  first  appearance,  could 
have  felt  more  embarrassed.  I  knew  not  what 
to  say.  At  last,  I  said,  '  My  dear  friends,  as  I 
look  at  this  splendid  testimonial  of  your  good- 
will— rich  in  morocco  and  gold — beautiful  as  a 
work  of  art  and  skill — I  think  of  another  book, 
a  little  one,  broken,  torn,  ragged,  and  imperfect 
—you  would  hardly  pick  it  up  in  the  street — but 
to  me,  precious  as  your  gift  is  to-night,  more 
precious  is  that  little  book. 

'"On  the  illuminated  fly-leaf  of  this  I  read: 
"  Presented  August  8,  1860,  to  John  B.  Gough, 
on  his  leaving  England  for  America,  by  those 
only  who  signed  the  pledge  after  hearing  him  in 
Exeter  Hall,  London."  On  the  brown,  mildewed 
fly-leaf  of  the  other  book  are  these  words  :  "  Jane 


356 


AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


Goug-h,  born  August  12,  1776.  John  Gough, 
born  August  22,  1817.  The  gift  of  his  mother 
on  his  departure  from  England  to  America." 
Two  gifts  and  two  departures.' 

"  As  I  began  to  review  the  two  past  experiences 


AUDIENCE    CHEERING   JOHN    GOUGH    IN    EXETER,  HALL,    LONDON 

since  I  left  home,  thirty-one  years  before,  the 
flood  of  recollections  came  over  me,  combined 
with  the  tender  associations  connected  with  fare- 
well, and  I  stammered,  became  nervous,  and 
unable  to  proceed.  As  I  stood  there,  the  unshed 
tears  filling  my  eyes,  Thomas  Irving  White  rose, 
and  taking  me  by  the  hand,  said  :  'God  bless 
him!  Give  him  three  cheers.'  The  audience 


JOHN   BARTHOLOMEW    GOUGH  '357 

started  to  their  feet  and  with  waving  of  hats  and 
handkerchiefs,  gave  them  with  a  will.  That 
unsealed  the  fountain  and  I  bowed  my  head  and 
cried  like  a  very  boy. 

"  Prayer  was  offered  and  afterwards  the  exer- 
cises continued,  and  I  told  them  that  this  splen- 
did book  should  occupy  an  honored  place  in  my 
home  ;  but  the  little,  old,  battered  Bible  of  my 
mother  should  lie  by  its  side.  And  there  they 
do  lie,  on  a  table  procured  for  the  purpose — the 
two  books  remain  together,  as  mementoes  of  the 
past,  and  the  realities  of  the  present,  till  God  shall 
call  me." 

After  his  death,  in  1886,  Joseph  Cook  said  of 
him,  "Two  nations,  now  the  foremost  on  earth, 
mourn  a  fiery  man  of  Kent.  Humanity  mourns  ; 
for  this  man  had  fire  in  his  emotions,  in  his 
imagination,  in  his  intellect,  in  his  will,  and  in  his 
conscience.  He  has  addressed  more  than  eight 
millions  of  hearers,  given  more  than  eight  thou- 
sand addresses,  and  traveled  more  miles  on  his 
lecture  tours  than  would  reach  twenty  times 
around  the  globe." 

In  the  great  temperance  movement  that  has 
done  so  much,  especially  in  the  United  States 
and  in  Great  Britain,  for  the  elevation  of  the 
human  race,  he  certainly  was  a  pioneer — a  mas- 
ter workman  that  needeth  not  to  be  ashamed. 


358  AMERICAN   PIONEERS 


KEY  TO  PRONUNCIATION 

a  as  a  in    ate.  I   as    *   in    ice. 

a    "    "    "      at.  \    "    "    "       /'/. 

6    "   o    "     no. 

al1'  6    "    "    "    not. 

a    "    "    "     air. 

6    "  ^  "food. 
a  "    "    "  sofa. 

u    a    <i  9    "    ^ 


her.  tt    "    "    " 

n  as  French  nasal  n  in  bon,  enfant. 
zh  as  z  in  azure. 


INDEX 


Adams,  John,  226,  320. 
Adams,  Samuel,  320. 
Alabama,  settlement  of,  102. 
Alamo  (a  la-mo),  siege  of,  171,  172, 

180,   181. 

Amory,  Thomas  C.,  49. 
"  Appleseed,  Johnnie,"  146,   147. 
Arkansas     River,    discovered    by 

Marquette,  91. 
Armstrong,    Samuel  C.,    307-317. 

Bible,  the  Indian,  323,  324. 

Bienville    (byanveT),  98,  99,   102. 

Biloxi  (bl-lok'si),  settlement  at,  98; 
abandoned,  102. 

Blackstone,  William,  49-57. 

Blind,  education  of  the,   293-303. 

Blue-back  Spelling  Book,  268,  272. 

Bonaparte,  Napoleon,  sells  Loui- 
siana, 155. 

Books,  olden  time  school,  267, 
268,  272,  273;  for  the  blind, 

301-303- 

Boone,  Daniel,  103-120,  239. 

Boone,  George,   103. 

Boone,  Squire,  103. 

Boonesborough  (bons'-bur-6),  at- 
tack on,  109-113. 

Boston,  settlement  at,  50. 

Bowie  (bo'l),  Col.  James,  171. 

Bridgman,    Laura,    295-301,    304, 

305,  337- 

Burke,  Col.  Peter,  176. 
Burnett,  Peter  H.,  206-216. 
Byfield,  academy  at,  287. 

California,  gold  discovered  in,  187, 
209  ;  growth  of,  190,  214  ;  ceded 
to  the  U.  S.,  194  ;  gold  mining 
in,  195. 

Cambridge,  college  founded  at, 
257,  258. 

Carlisle  (kar-lll' )  Indian  school,  314. 


Cartier,    Jacques   (zhak    kar-tya'), 

22-25. 

Cartwright,  Peter,  327-336. 
Champlain    (sham-plan'),     Samuel 

de,  26-34,  81. 
Chandeleur  (shan-de-leY)  Islands, 

97- 

Chapman,  John,  146. 
Charles  1 1.,  grants  land  toPenn,68; 

conversation  with  Penn,  71-75. 
Charlestown,  Puritans  arrive  at,  47. 
Cherokees,    removal  of,    168-170 ; 

Houston  among  the,   175,   177, 

179. 

Chicago,  Marquette  at  site  of,  92. 
Clark,    George    Rogers,  117,  128- 

137,   150. 

Clark,  William,  150-162. 
Coligny  (co-len'ye),  Gaspard  de,  15. 
Constitution  of  the  U.S.,  230-238. 
Crockett,  David,  163-172,  180. 

Danvers,    Mass.,    pioneers    leave, 

142. 
Declaration  of  Independence,  217, 

218,  224-226. 
Detroit,    Boone    carried    to,    no ; 

Kenton  carried  to,  125. 
Devion,  Father,  99,  100. 
Dix,  Dorothea,  303,  338-346. 
Donner  Party,  story  of,  21 1,  212. 
Dress  of  Kentucky  pioneers,  106. 
Dunmore,  John  M.,  Lord,  119. 
Dutch  in  America,  58-66. 

Education,  of  Puritans,  256  ;  early 
college,  260,  261  ;  in  early 
times,  266-274 ;  for  women, 
279-283,  287-291  ;  for  the  blind, 
293-303  ;  of  idiots,  303,  304  ;  of 
negroes,  306-310,  314-317  ;  of 
Indians,  311-314,  323- 

Eliot,  John,  318,  319,  321-325. 


360 


INDEX 


Emancipation   Proclamation,  first, 

251-253;  second,  253;  307. 
Kmerson,  Rev.  Joseph,  287. 


Fauquier  (fa'kwer),  Francis,  222. 

Fort  Caroline,  settlement  at,  15; 
captured  by  Spaniards,  18 ; 
wiped  out,  19. 

Fort  Ilarmer,  143. 

Fort  Laramie  (lar'a-me),  202. 

France,  in  Carolina,  15-19;  in 
Canada,  21-33;  in  the  Missis- 
sippi valley,  83-93;  in  Louisi- 
ana, 95-102. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  233,  338. 

PVeedom,  religious,  71  ;  for  slaves, 
253.  306,  307. 


Girty,  Simon,  122-124. 

Gold,  discovery  of,  187-189,  194; 
search  for,  189,  190;  production 
of,  195;  mining,  213,  214. 

Gough   (gof),   John   B.,  337,  347- 

357- 
Gourgues    (gorg),    Dominique   de, 

19. 
Great  Kanawha  (ka-na'wa),  114. 

Hamilton,  Henry,  Governor  of 
Detroit,  no;  captures  Vin- 
cennes,  132;  and  Capt.  Vigo, 
133 ;  surrenders  Vincennes, 
*36,  137- 

Hampton  Institute,  308-317. 

Hancock,  John,  320. 

Harrod,  James,  1 17. 

Harrodsburg,  settlement  at,  107. 

Harvard  College,  founding  of, 
257-259 ;  student  life  at,  259- 
265 ;  motto  in  Sidney's  book  at, 
320  ;  Indians  at,  323. 

Harvard,  John,  257,  258. 

Hedge,  Prof.  Levi,  262-265. 

Helm,  Capt.  Leonard,  132,  133, 
136. 

Henry,  Patrick,  221,  237. 

Herreshoff  (her'res-hof ),  John  B., 
292,  293. 


Hiawatha,  poem  of,  89. 
Ilochelaga  (ho-shel'a-ga),  22-25. 
Hollis,  Thomas,  320. 
Hospitals,       Pennsylvania,      338; 
Rhode  Island,   341  ;    for  insane, 

345- 

Houses,  pioneer,  105,  156,  240- 
242. 

Houston  (hus'ton),  Samuel,  173- 
186. 

Howe,  Samuel  G.,  293-305. 

Hudson,  Henry,  58,  59. 

Huguenots  (hii'ge-nots),  in  Flori- 
da, 15-19* 

Hurons  (hu'rons),  missions  among, 
83- 

Iberville,  Pierre  le  Moyne  d'  (pe-ar 
le  inwan  de-ber-veT),  94-102. 
Indians,  and  Spaniards,  19; 
entertain  Cartier,  22-25 ;  and 
Champlain,  27-30;  and  the 
English,  33,  40-45  ;  and  Wil- 
liam Penn,  75-80;  and  the  Jes- 
uits, 81-93;  99-101;  in  Ken- 
tucky, 108-113,  IJ9~I25'  I27> 
128;  in  Ohio  Valley,  147-149; 
and  Gen.  Clark,  157-162  ; 
Crockett  and  the,  168-170;  and 
Houston,  175,  176,  179,  184, 
185;  and  A.  L.  Lovejoy,  201; 
education  of,  311-314;  mission- 
ary work  among,  320-324. 

Insane,  treatment  of,  337-343. 

Iroquois  (ir-6-kwoi'),  Indians,  29, 
3°,  83. 


Jackson,  Andrew,  170,  178. 

Jamestown,  settlement  at,  35-46. 

Jefferson,  John,  2r8. 

Jefferson,  Peter,  218. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  and  Lewis  and 
Clark  expedition,  151,  153;  and 
Louisiana  purchase,  155,  156; 
and  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence, 217-229. 

Jesuits,    in    America,    81-93,    99, 

IOO. 

Joliet  (zho-lya'),  Louis,  86-92. 


INDEX 


36 


Kaskaskia      (kas-kas'ki-a),      Mar- 

quette    starts    mission    at,    92 ; 

captured     by     Clark,    128-131  ; 

Capt.  Vigo  arrives  at,   133. 
Kenton,  Simon,  117-126. 
Kentucky,  Boone  in,  106;  becomes 

a   state,    113;   pioneers  in,    117, 

126,  127. 
Kieft  (keft),  Wilhelmus,  60. 


LaSalle,   Robert  Cavelier   (ro-bar' 

ka-va-le-a  la  sal'),  95,  98. 
Lawrence,  Abbott,  196. 
Lee,  Richard  Henry,  224. 
Lee,  Robert  E.,  252,  254. 
Leland  (le'land),  John",  235-237. 
Lewis,  Meriwether,  151-154. 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  239-255. 
Lincoln,  Sarah  Hush,  242,  243. 
Lincoln,  Thomas,  239-242. 
Logan,  John,  124,  125. 
Longfellow,  H.  W.,  88,  89. 
Lottery    Book   for   Children,    272, 

Louisiana  (lo-e-zi-an'-a),  explored 
by  La  Salle,  95;  settlement  of, 
96-102  ;  ceded  to  the  U.  S.,  154- 
156. 

Love  joy,  Gen.  A.  L.,  196-204. 

Lovejoy,  Dr.  Samuel,  196. 

Lyon,  Mary,  283-291. 


Massachusetts,  settlement  of,  47- 
52 ;  banishes  R.  Williams,  55 , 
founds  Harvard  College,  256, 
257  ;  schools  in,  275-278;  seal, 

3'9>  320- 

Menendez  de  Aviles  (ma-nan'dath 
da  a-ve-las'),  Pedro,  15-19. 

Mexico,  war  with,  171,  172. 

Michilimackinac  (mik'i-li-mak'-i- 
na),  85,  86,  92,  93. 

Minuit  (min'u-it),  Peter,  60. 

Mississippi  River,  explored  by 
Marquette,  87-91  ;  explored 
by  La  Salle,  95  ;  French  in  val- 
ley of,  97-101  ;  Boone  settles 
beyond  the,  114. 

Missouri,  Boone  settles  in,  114; 
value  of  Lewis  and  Clark  expe- 
dition to,  154. 

Missouri  River,  discovered  by 
Marquette,  91  ;  Lewis  and 
Clark  seek  source  of,  152,  153. 

Mobile,  settlement  of,  TO2. 

Monticello  (mon'te-seTlo),  221, 
223,  224,  229,  230. 

Montpellier  (mont-pe'lyer),  230, 
238. 

Montreal   (mont-re-al'),  Cartier  at, 

21,    22. 

Mount  Holyoke,  288-291. 
Muskingum    ( mus-king'gum )    Riv- 
er, 143. 


McAuley  (ma-ka'-li),  Jerry,  337. 
McKay,  Thomas,  210. 
Mackinac  (mak'i-na),  85. 
Madison,    James,    154,    159,    227, 

228,  230-238. 
Mann,  Horace,  266-277,  282,  295, 

303- 

Mansfield,  Ohio,  147. 
Marietta,  settlement  of,    143-145; 

Indians  at,  148,  149;  Cartwright 

at,  330. 
Marquette,  (mar-ket'),  Father,  83- 

93'  95 
Marshall,  James  W.,  187-189. 


Natchez  Indians,  101. 

Negroes,    education    of,    306-310, 

3t4-3i7' 

New  Amsterdam,  settlement  of, 
59,  60 ;  importance  of,  63 ; 
captured  by  the  English,  64-66. 

New  England,  settlement  of,  47. 

New  England  Primer,  272,  273. 

New  Netherland  becomes  New 
York,  66. 

New  Orleans  (or'le-anz),  settle- 
ment of,  102;  capital  of  South- 
ern Louisiana,  156. 

Opechancanough  (6-pech-an-ca'- 
no),  captures  J.  Smith,  41,  42. 


362 


INDEX 


Oregon,  Sutter  in,  192 ;  its  ro- 
mantic history,  196  ;  settlement 
of,  205-206  ;  sufferings  in,  208. 

Osage  (6-saj')  Indians,  origin  of, 
159-161. 

Penn,  William,  68-80. 
Pennsylvania,    settlement    of,    70- 

80;  hospital,  338. 
Perkins    Institute    for   the  Blind, 

294,  301. 

Pettygrove,  F.  W.,  203,  204. 
Philadelphia,  settlement  of,  70. 
Pioneer,  hardships,  27,  37,  45,  48, 

49,   81,   82,   102,  108,  113,  117, 

126,    127,    145,    146,   148,   149, 

208  ;  homes,  105,  156,  240-242  ; 

dress,    106  ;  methods  of  travel, 

142,   143,   198-200,     210,    211  ; 

preachers,  326-334,  336. 
Pocahontas      (po-ca-hon'tas),     44, 

220. 
Portland,    Oregon,    196 ;    naming 

of,  203,  204. 

Port  Royal,  settlement  of,  15. 
Powhatan  (pow-ha-tSn'),  42. 
Pratt,  Col.  Richard  H.,  311,  314. 
Providence,  settlement  at,  55,  56. 
Putnam,  Rufus,  138-149. 

Quakers,  68,  69,  71. 

Quebec,  settled  by  the  French,  26- 
28,  331  Jesuits  arrive  at,  81; 
Joliet  returns  to,  92  ;  the  gate- 
way of  New  France,  96. 

Sacramento,  gold   found  at,    187  ; 

settlement  at,  193. 
St.    Augustine    (a'gus-ten),   14-19; 

Indians  at,  311. 
St.  Ignace  (fg'nas'),  83. 
St.  Louis,  Boone    at,   114;  Lewis 

and    Clark     expedition    leaves, 

152  :  returns  to,   153  ;  in   1804, 

154.157  ;    Indians  at,    158-162  ; 

Sutter  at,  191. 
San  Francisco,  in  1850,  192,  193  ; 

growth  of,  214,  215. 


San  Jacinto  (ja-stn't5),  battle  of, 
1 80. 

Santa  Anna,  captures  the  Alamo, 
171,  172  ;  captured  by  Houston, 
180,  181. 

Schools,  in  Tennessee,  176,  177  ; 
in  early  times,  266-274  ;  reforms 
for,  275-277  ;  for  women,  279- 
283,  287-291  ;  for  blind,  294; 
for  idiots,  303  ;  for  negroes, 
306-310,  316,  317  ;  for  Indians, 

3II-3I4- 

Shackamaxon,  75. 

Shawmut,  49,  50,  52. 

Sidney,  Algernon,  319,  320. 

Slavery,  248-253. 

Smith,  John,  37-46. 

Study  Hill,  54-57. 

Stuyvesant  (stl'v£  s&nt),  Peter,  60- 

67. 
Sutter,  John  A.,  187-195. 

Taminend,  75,  77, 

Tennessee,       pioneers      in,    163  ; 

Houston  moves  to,  173. 
Texas,    Crockett    in,     171,     172  ; 

Houston  goes  to,  180  ;   made  a 

republic,  181. 
Thorowgood,  John,  322. 
Tonti  (ton'te),"  Henry  de,  the  iron 

hand,    97,  98  ;    visits    Iberville, 

101. 
Travel,  methods  of,  142,  143,  198- 

200;    difficulties   of,  210,   21 1  ; 

287. 

Travis,  Col.  William  B.,  171. 
Tuskegee  (ttis-ke'ge),  317. 

University  of  Virginia,  228. 

Vancouver,   192. 

Van  Twiller,  Wouter,  60. 

Vigo  (ve'go),  Capt.  Francis,  133. 

Vincennes  (vln-senz'),  captured  by 

Clark,  128-137. 
Virginia,  settled    by   the  English, 

34-46. 

Waiilatpu  (wl-e  lat'pS),  206. 


INDEX 


363 


Washington,  Gen.  Clark  in,  159; 
Crockett  at,  166-170;  Houston 
at,  184,  185. 

Washington,  Booker  T.,  314-317. 

Washington,  George,  honors  Put- 
nam, 140,  141  ;  president  of 
Constitutional  Convention,  231, 

233- 

Webster,  Daniel,  167,  168. 
Webster,  Noah,  268. 
White,  Dr.  Elijah,  198,  200,  201. 
Whitman,  Dr.   Marcus,  201,  202, 

206,  207. 
Willamette  (wll-amet),  205. 


Willard,  Joseph,  263-265. 
Williams,  Roger,  55. 
Williamsburg,  Va  ,  219-222. 
Winthrop,  John,  arrives  in  Mass., 

47  ;     moves    to   Shawmut,   49  ; 

deeds    lands  to    Blackstone,  52, 

Women,    education    of,    279-283, 
287,  291. 

Yeager  (ye'g'er),  George,  117,  nS. 
Yadkin    River,    pioneers   on   the, 

105 ;     Boone  leaves   the,    106 ; 

163. 


